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1 internautes sur 1 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
5.0étoiles sur 5
Young Werner's Excellent Adventure, Avril 21 2002
An excellent commentary with Werner Herzog is included in this DVD, and unravels the mysteries of the film to some degree. On initial viewing the acting style appears stylised to the point of bafflement, but then Herzog explains that most of the cast were hypnotised prior to their scenes. Why do this, one might ask, and here Herzog demurs, simply offering the obscure comment that 'the story' suggested that this would be an effective idea; he also admits to knowing little about hypnotism prior to shooting, and that once the idea occurred to him then he researched the topic! For all his intellect, this is one instinctual film-maker.
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Herzog also gives some autobiographical information that is fascinating: he was raised in the Bavarian countryside, near the Austrian border, and lived in a house with no modern facilities whatsoever - it was unheated, there was no television, and not even a telephone - in fact he made his first telephone call at the age of seventeen - even today he says he has 'trouble' communicating over the phone. He saw his first movie around this age, and not long after started to make his own. He praises the circumstances of his childhood as conducive to the development of an imagination - the children had to invent their own stories and their own games. I'm not sure how 'explanatory' this is, after all he was the only one of his community to become a reknowned film-maker as far as I'm aware.
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The story is simple and timeless. A secret is lost, in this case the process by which glass is made ruby red, and grave consequences follow. Herzog would not be drawn on the question of what else this could represent, but clearly was sympathetic to it being allegorical - what was lost could also be faith, or innocence, or purpose.
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He travelled far and wide to obtain the particular landscapes featured, and he hopes these will evoke deep, archetypal, feelings in viewers. His journeys ranged to Alaska, Yellowstone Park, and Ireland, and yet he considers all these landscapes as 'Bavarian' in terms of their abstract spirit. He also, rather casually, mentions spending hours waiting for the right light to film certain scenes, and days capturing the stop-motion photography of clouds. No effort appeared too great to fulfill his vision (hardly a surprise if you've seen his South American films, 'Aguirre' and 'Fitzcarraldo').
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For mine, one element of discord is the music, by Popul Vuh - Herzog obviously has a soft spot for this but it does sound terribly dated and is incongruous with the eighteenth century setting (think very bad imitation of Mahavishnu Orchestra).
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The pacing of the film is slow, in keeping with the trance-affected acting. Unsurprisingly, the film did well in Scandanavia, while in America audiences reportedly found it difficult. Herzog himself seems intrigued by how time flows, or fails to, upon the screen. The cast features enough misshapen physiognomies to warm the cockles of Fellini or David Lynch. The lighting and cinematography are superb, as is the DVD transfer.
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Herzog considers himself primarily a story-teller. He wants to tell his stories in ways previously untried. He is an adventurer in life and on film. He is a visionary, in many senses of the term. Personally, this is not my favourite of his films, and I think the experiment with hypnotism is something of a failure dramatically, but nevertheless he has created a work of art that is unique and endlessly open to interpretation. Five stars in the context of the world of film as a whole, but if you have not seen one of his films before then I think 'Stroszek', 'The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser', or 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' are more representative of his work.
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1 internautes sur 1 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
5.0étoiles sur 5
Attitude, my friends, Mars 27 2002
I bought this DVD because I was intrigued by the description of a small village gripped by insanity following the death of a glassmaker. But when I watched it I immediately dubbed it horrible. I felt as though it had killed me.After that night, though, I couldn't get the pictures out of my head. I could vividly recall scenes from the film, and as they played out in my mind they seemed so beautiful. The more I thought, the more I realized that I had merely watched the movie with the wrong idea, expecting something that it was not. The attitude of the movie became clear to me. When I watched it the second time I was stunned by how amazingly well the stupor and dazed madness of the town was portrayed. The events and actions of the characters engulfed me and drew me into the story. The hypnotic trance of the actors provides an effect I have never seen before. This truly is a great film if you are prepared for it.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Shows promise, Mars 27 2002
Par Un client
Very creative... a MUST if you're a Herzog fan!
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