Werner Herzog

Ecstatic Truth and Other Useless Conquests

Kristoffer Hegnsvad, Claire Thomson

• Editore: Reaktion Books
• Anno: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781789144116
• Argomento: Media & Performing Arts
• Categoria: Performing Arts

Werner Herzog came to fame in the 1970s as the European new wave explored new cinematic ideas. With films like Signs of Life (1968); Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972); The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974); and Fitzcarraldo (1982), Herzog became the subject of public debate, particularly due to his larger than life characters, often played by the wild Klaus Kinski. After the success of his documentary Grizzly Man (2005), Herzog became a leading force in a new form of hybrid documentary, and his tough attitude toward life and film made him a director's director for a new generation of aspiring filmmakers. Kristoffer Hegnsvad's award-winning book guides the reader through films depicting gangster priests, bear whisperers, shoe eating, revolutionary filmmakers... and a penguin. It is full of rare insights from Herzog's otherwise secretive Rogue Film School, and features interviews with Herzog.

FILMOGRAPHY WITH SYNOPSES

This filmography would not be so extensive and detailed without the painstaking work of Chris Wahl (Lektionen in Herzog), Paul Cronin (Herzog on Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed), Grazia Paganelli (Segni di Vita), Timothy Corrigan (Between Mirage and History), Rubén Higueras Flores (Werner Herzog) and Beat Presser (Werner Herzog), all of whom have contributed to the details collected here. And not least Hans Henrik Rasmussen, whose wide knowledge and sense of detail have been invaluable during the preparation of the book and filmography. I owe them all a huge vote of thanks.

The film titles used in this filmography (and in the book as a whole) are the original titles in German, supplemented with English titles. German titles dominate in the earlier period of Herzog’s career, and English titles latterly. Where films have original titles both in German and in English, which is primarily the case with films from the 1980s, I have selected a primary title on the basis of the film’s origins and focus. For example, in the case of Where the Green Ants Dream, which was shot and co-produced in Australia, I use the English title as the primary title. (In this translation of the book as a whole, the German original titles are given first as appropriate, and then the English titles tend to be used.)

Information on format and length has been sourced from www.wernerherzog.com, IMDB and the Spanish academic anthology Werner Herzog (ed. Rubén Higueras Flores); where doubts arose, information was sourced directly from Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. The category ‘Music’ in most cases indicates the primary composer of the films’ original scores, but in some places other music is also included. The category ‘Production’ covers the relevant producer(s), sometimes including production manager, executive producer, and so on, since these roles are not always clearly or formally differentiated in Herzog’s productions.

HERAKLES

Short film. West Germany 1962

Length: 10 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.37:1, b/w

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Jaime Pacheco. Editing: Werner Herzog. Music: Uwe Brandner. Sound: Werner Herzog. Production: Werner Herzog, Walter Krüttner. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Cineropa Film. Featuring: Reinhard Lichtenberg (Mr Germany 1962).

Synopsis: Herakles is a montage of clashing images. It was edited together from original footage of bodybuilders, among them Mr Germany, and from archival images of a terrible car crash in a motor race, of ruined cities hit by earthquakes and avalanches, and of a rubbish dump. Herzog later pronounced the film to be extremely bad.

SPIEL IM SAND

(Game in the Sand)

Short film. West Germany 1964

Length: 14 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.37:1, b/w

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Jamie Pacheco. Editing: Werner Herzog. Music: Uwe Brandner. Sound: Werner Herzog. Production: Werner Herzog. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion.

Synopsis: The film was never distributed, allegedly because it contains such gruesome images (such as children torturing a hen) that its release would be ethically indefensible. This film has developed into a myth in Herzog circles, and is often alluded to, although no one has seen it or even knows for sure that it exists.

DIE BEISPIELLOSE VERTEIDIGUNG DER FESTUNG DEUTSCHKREUZ

(The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz)

Short film. West Germany 1966–7 (premiere 1967 at Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen)

Length: 15 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.33:1, b/w

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Jaime Pacheco. Editing: Werner Herzog. Sound: Uwe Brandner. Production: Werner Herzog, Bruno Zöckler. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Arpa Film. Location: Schloss Deutschkreuz (Austria). Featuring: Peter Brumm, Georg Eska, Karl-Heinz Steffel, Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg.

Synopsis: A satire of war and of the terrible things that war drives people to do, which are presented as senseless, even uninteresting, to the outside world. Concerns four young people who enter a deserted fort, where they find military uniforms and start to stage a strange war game. Their violent acts during this game seem increasingly senseless in relation to the society around them, in which workers go about their quiet, everyday lives in the countryside.

LETZTE WORTE

(Last Words)

Short film. Germany 1968

Length: 13 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.33:1, b/w

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Thomas Mauch. Editing: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus. Sound: Herbert Prasch. Production: Werner Herzog. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. Location: Crete, Kos (Greece). Featuring: Lefteris Daskalakis, Antonis Papadakis.

Synopsis: A short film shot in two days during the production of Lebenszeichen (see below). The inhabitants of a Greek island take turns to tell the story of an old man who was taken away from the island of Spinalonga. On the island lived a colony of people with cerebral palsy, and this man was suddenly removed and brought back to civilization. The man refuses to speak and will only go out in the evening to play his lyre. He keeps himself to himself, but everyone else talks about him a lot, which seems absurd since he does not seem to wish to participate in society. Herzog illustrates the absurdity by showing that the inhabitants repeat the same words until they no longer make sense. This is a linguistic version of the circularity that Herzog explores in many other films.

LEBENSZEICHEN

(Signs of Life)

Feature film. West Germany 1968

Length: 87 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.37:1, b/w

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Thomas Mauch. Editing: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Maximiliane Mainka. Music: Stavros Xarchakos. Sound: Herbert Prasch. Production: Werner Herzog. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. Location: Crete, Kos (Greece). Featuring: Peter Brogle, Jannis Frasakis, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopoulous, Achmed Hafiz, Henry van Lyck, Julio M. Pinheiro, Florian Fricke, Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg.

Synopsis: The wounded parachute jumper Stroszek is sent with his wife, Nora, and two soldiers to a fort on a secluded island, which functions as an ammunition store. The two soldiers are very different characters: Meinhard is a violent type, whereas Becker is an intellectual and fascinated by ancient Greek culture. They live in close quarters, and this is not without its tension. Stroszek becomes very affected by his living conditions. One day he wanders into a valley and encounters 10,000 spinning windmills. Overwhelmed by the sight, he goes completely mad and barricades himself into the fort. From there, he runs amok and opens fire over the town in an apparently senseless protest.

MASSNAHMEN GEGEN FANATIKER

(Precautions Against Fanatics)

Short film. West Germany 1969

Length: 12 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.33:1, Eastmancolor

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Dieter Lohmann, Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein. Editing: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus. Sound: Werner Herzog. Production: Werner Herzog. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. Location: Munich (Germany). Featuring: Petar Radenković, Mario Adorf, Herbert Hisel, Hans Tiedemann.

Synopsis: Herzog stages life on a horse-racing track, where the horse owners claim they have to protect the horses against fanatics. Through a number of interviews the horse owners tell of a man who comes to feed and pet the horses. They don’t understand the friendly man’s motivations, and accuse him of being the kind of fanatic they must protect the horses from. Stylistically, the film is reminiscent of television reportage, in which the interviewees look directly into the camera.

DIE FLIEGENDEN ÄRZTE VON OSTAFRIKA

(The Flying Doctors of East Africa)

Documentary film. West Germany 1969

Length: 44 min. Format: 35 mm, 1.33:1, Eastmancolor

Direction: Werner Herzog. Screenplay: Werner Herzog. Cinematography: Thomas Mauch. Editing: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus. Sound: Werner Herzog. Production: Werner Herzog, Eleonora Semler. Production company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, African Medical & Research Foundation. Location: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania. Featuring: James Kabale, Dr Michael Wood, Dr Ann Spoery, Dr Rottcher. Voiceover: Wilfried Klaus.

Synopsis: A traditional documentary about a group of volunteer doctors who practise in isolated areas in East Africa, to which they fly in small planes. The film was commissioned, and has a traditional structure with footage from daily life in the hospitals, which Herzog uses to try to attract attention to the work of the doctors.

FATA MORGANA

Feature film. West Germany 1969–71 (premiere at Cannes Film Festival 1971)

Length: 79...

Indice dei contenuti

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• ONE NEW IMAGES: AN INTRODUCTION TO WERNER HERZOG
• TWO LESSONS OF DARKNESS: AN INTRODUCTION TO HERZOG’S CONCEPTS
• THREE THE TRUTH OF ACCOUNTANTS
• FOUR THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF DIRECT REVOLT
• FIVE ECSTATIC TRUTH: A COOKBOOK FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY FILMMAKER
• SIX A NEW GRAMMAR OF IMAGES
• SEVEN THE NOMADIC ALTERNATIVE
• REFERENCES
• FILMOGRAPHY WITH SYNOPSES
• PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS