At least for me, his fictional work (but also his documentaries) always seems to hint at some deeper, universal truth that cannot be put directly into words. But watching his movies (and hearing him talk), I always get this strange feeling that maybe there is nothing behind all this poetic glitter.
I agree. It often feels like something deep hiding behind something banal, but on closer reflection there actually isn't much below the surface. However, the images in Lessons of Darkness are very cool and don't need interpretation.
Which movies? The only one I didn’t like was the one about the internet, Lo and Behold. I feel like maybe he was just from too many eras ago to understand how full of shit all the people he was interviewing were. All the rest of his movies always make me understand the world and humans on a deeper level than I did before. Happy People, Into the Inferno, Grizzly Man, the one about the cave paintings, the one about the South Pole.
Herzog's famous take on nature, recorded on the set of Fitzcarrado in the Peruvian jungle, is just beautiful. I keep coming back to it.
https://youtu.be/3xQyQnXrLb0
"Kinski says [the jungle] is full of erotic elements. It’s not so much erotic, but full of obscenity. Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn’t see anything erotic here. I see fornication and asphyxiation and choking, fighting for survival and growing and just rotting away. Of course there’s a lot of misery, but it’s the same misery that’s all around us. The trees are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don’t think they sing; they just screech in pain. Taking a close look at what’s around us, there is some sort of harmony. It’s the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder. But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It’s not that I hate it. I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment.”
Oh yeah, that’s a great one. There’s no denying Herzog’s love for the things he also despises, and this is the mark of a great artist.
Aguirre was my first Herzog movie, in the theatre, way too young for it, and to this day the Kinski monkey scene is one of my favorites in all of film.
