There is, in virtually every single Herzog film, at least one moment in which the hammer of its authenticity hits me square between the eyes. This movie is filled with those moments.
Then there’s this one bullshit Mister Roger’s Neighborhood model steamship shot that occurs during the rapids sequence and that Herzog holds on for far too long. Any other movie with smaller ambitions would’ve gotten away with it, but it looks tawdry in the middle of a Herzog experience. It made me laugh, which, you know, Herzog does love to make people laugh, so I guess it’s all good.
Anyway, the ways and reasons in which Herzog deviates from the source material in his historical films always fascinates me.…