An unearthly companion piece to Fata Morgana, Werner Herzog’s Lessons of Darkness presents a haunting, hellish vision of post-Gulf War Iraq in which burning oilfields, technological rubble, and lakes of black gold litter the vast desert. Via soaring, surreal aerial photography and a symphonic score of Schubert, Verdi and Wagner, Herzog’s poignant anti-war documentary approaches its landscape as if it were an alien planet, exuding a combination of bewilderment, horror and despondency as it gazes upon the tragic nature-related consequences of man’s destructiveness. As a serene shot of a slumbering city hours before the conflict’s commencement gives way to images of rising plumes of smoke, spouting geysers set ablaze, and men – some of their ruddy faces covered, like astronauts, by shiny, reflective masks – trying to contain the fires and drain the wells, the film becomes a hypnotic depiction of man’s irresponsible unwillingness to achieve accord with both his fellow man and the world in which he exists. And though his trademark overblown narration is slightly more portentous than usual, Herzog’s eventual silence during the film’s majestic, unforgettable second half seems born from the same grief that plagues an interviewed Muslim woman and a small, cowering child, both of whom claim to have been literally struck dumb by their exposure to the foul violence of war.
Finally watched this for the first time last night. Wonderful, transfixing, hypnotic, mesmerizing... in other words, typical Herzog. That's another one I'll have to buy, now. Fine film to name a site after.
Posted by: rob | September 12, 2008 at 10:32 AM
My advice would be to just pick up those two Herzog box sets. They've got a good deal of the really great stuff.
Posted by: Nick | September 12, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I have the Herzog/Kinski set, so the other is definitely on my list now.
Posted by: rob | September 12, 2008 at 03:10 PM
I have the Herzog/Kinski set, so the other is definitely on my list now.
Posted by: aion power leveling | June 12, 2010 at 09:51 AM