Werner Herzog. Documentaries and Shorts DVD 1 (1962-1970)

Disc contains such masterpieces: Herakles (1962), The Unprecedented Defense of the Fortress of Deutschkreuz (1966), Last Words (1967), Die Fliegenden Arzte von Ostafrika (1969), Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker (1969), Fata Morgana (1970).

The film relates to six of the twelve labours of Heracles. The film starts with shots of young male bodybuilders working out in a gym, posing on a stage and flexing their muscles. Each of the labours are then announced by on-screen text in the form of a question, followed by related scenes of modern challenges intercut with the bodybuilders. The audio track of the film is saxophone jazz and sounds from a gym. The question Wird er den Augiasstall saubern? (Will he clean the Augean stables?) is followed by scenes of a garbage dump, Wird er die lernaische Schlange toten? (Will he kill the Lernaean Hydra?) is followed by a huge line of stopped traffic on a motorway and people walking around outside their cars, Wird er die Rosse des Diomedes bezahmen? (Will he tame the Mares of Diomedes?) is followed by scenes of car racing and several race crashes including a crash into the spectators and shots of the subsequent disaster and piles of bodies, Wird er die Amazonen besiegen? (Will he defeat the Amazonians? (Hippolyta)) is followed by scores of young women marching in uniform, Wird er die Giganten bezwingen? (Will he conquer the giants? (Geryon)) is followed by shots of rubble of a destroyed apartment building and men in uniform searching the wreckage, Wird er sich der stymphalischen Vogel erwehren? (Will he resist the Stymphalian birds?) is followed by jets flying in formation, shooting missiles and dropping bombs on training targets. The last shot of the film is of a bodybuilder's buttocks as he goes off the stage through the stage curtains.





A group of young men break into an old deserted castle and find some uniforms and become soldiers. On the soundtrack the narrator speaks of the history of the building and eventually talks of the necessity of war. Clever look at how boys playing war may end up taking it too far. Its a bit one note and is probably a couple of minutes too long, however there are some intriguing moments such as the change that happens as the uniforms are put on or how the military mind is ultimately operating in an us or them mode. Its not the sort of thing that one need watch more than once, but its an okay time passer. Mostly its real interest lies with anyone who's a fan of director Werner Herzog. All others may not feel the need to see it.





Documentary style story of a man who is rescued from an island that once housed a leper colony and how he's better for it even if he won't talk to anyone as a result. Surreal and often very funny, thanks to the constant repetition of the lines of dialog. This is the place where you really can see the Herzog style coming into being. There is wonderful local music, portrait like shots of the characters and haunting images of the landscape. Like the rest of the early Werner Herzog films I watched in this sitting its more a sketch than a real film, but at the same time its a pretty good sketch.





Herzog's short film about the doctors that fly all over central Africa to bring medical help to the people living in the bush. We fly with the doctors and they tell us about the history of their service and how they treat their patients.
Its a very good, and considering the director almost too straight forward documentary. It has none of the earmarks of what you would think of as a Herzog film and if I had missed the opening credits I would never have guessed who directed it. To be honest the film is very reminiscent of a Mondo movie. Not because its sensational, rather because its African setting in the late 1960's coupled the narration makes it seem (slightly) more exploitive then it is(I wonder if the English narrator did Mondo work). What I found interesting was the stories of the culture clashes that occur for the doctors, as say some of the tribesmen refused to climb stairs or a poster designed to warn the people about a fly that causes blindness are not understood by the people its suppose to help.





"Measures Against Fanatics" (BRD 1969) is a kind of fake documentation, containing some loose scenes where people on a horse-racing circuit talk about the way they prevent the horses of fanatics. But an old grandpa - hardly breathing - has his own opinions about that…
Very amusing and curious Shortmovie from Werner Herzogs early years, including a very funny (and rare) performance by Peter Schamoni. Also, Mario Adorf can be seen in a short but cool supporting role. A must-see.





Fata Morgana is a film by Werner Herzog, shot in 1969, which captures mirages in the desert. Herzog describes the film as "a documentary shot by extraterrestrials from the Andromeda Nebula, and left behind." The only narration consists of a recitation of the Mayan creation myth (the Popol Vuh) by Lotte Eisner, and text written by Herzog himself. Film critic David Thomson describes Fata Morgana as "extraordinary": "[The] desert is a model for mankind. The film is in three sections: the first showing an unpeopled, beautiful wasteland; the second introducing signs of human wreckage; and the third showing wretched vestiges of life. Totally imaginative, it is a legend of life at extremes that contrasts with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Whereas Stanley Kubrick has an all-powerful, riddle-making consciousness behind the universe, Herzog's creator is as fallible, quirky and uncertain as man himself."




Director: Werner Herzog
Production land: West Germany