1992 ‘Lektionen in Finsternis’ Directed by Werner Herzog
This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.
Werner Herzog is the only living person who could say things like "the oil is treacherous because it reflects the sky; the oil is trying to disguise itself as water" and not seem like an utterly ridiculous weirdo.
The introductory Pascal quote regarding the "grandiose splendor" of humanity’s collapse is counterfeit, but the visions Werner Herzog finds to illustrate it are absolute. The apocalypse is unmistakable even if the disbanding Gulf War goes unnamed, the 13-part structure posits Ecclesiastes in the desert from the vantage of the most sublime helicopter shots ever captured. Kuwait City at dawn, "The War" (CNN views in grainy night vision), "afterwards everything was different." Space-engulfing camera sprawls contemplate, mourn, and exalt the ensuing wreckage: Craters, bones, gnarled pipelines stretched by the lenses. And oil. "The oil is treacherous, because it reflects the sky. The oil is trying to disguise itself as water." Other appearances are no less deceiving—abandoned, flat-roofed hangars resemble Aztec pyramids,…
I want my life to be narrated by Werner Herzog. Can you imagine just walking down the street?
"Kent, Ohio. A desolate wasteland of forgotten industries. The smell of burning tires runs across the city like a deer running from gunfire. A rumble of feet mirroring the great quakes of yesteryear as bodies pour into chipotle to get a buy one get one free deal."
Remarkable, hypnotic documentary by Werner Herzog ranks amongst the directors' best work.
With some of the most phenomenal aerial photography Herzog attacks the post war oil fields in Kuwait after the first Gulf War. Towering pillars of fire and smoke, lakes of muddy oil that appear as reflective as water, and giant trucks acting like modern electric dinosaurs-all take place over a vast and stretching dessert; with Herzog occasionally giving sparse and ultra poetic narration.
The film goes beyond all conventional documentary techniques and becomes a deep meditation on the conjuncture of man and nature. Herzog is not merely saying that war is bad of beautiful, but that the consequences of war can be far more devastating and long term…
The spiritual successor to Fata Morgana, Lessons of Darkness sees Werner Herzog recontextualising documentary footage of post-Gulf War Kuwaiti oil fields to create his own unique science fiction narrative in what is one of his most fascinating ventures.
Ordinary images of oil fields, ruined buildings, firefighters and rusting structures are presented as nightmarish post-apocalyptic visions of a world plunged into chaos, as seen from the perspective of what we assume is possibly an extraterrestrial visitor. Herzog turns this disaster footage into something much more profound, a surreal reflection on man's relationship with nature, with just a few lines of sparse narration and a haunting musical score the footage suddenly becomes otherworldly and timeless.
Human beings don't appear human in Herzog's…
Lektionen in Finsternis
Impressive Werner Herzog documentary. If you believe Herzog's voice in the film he captured extraordinary moments of a very dark chapter in human history. Suffering made by humans, for humans. Press repeat.
For every film I see by Werner Herzog I become more fascinated. He has such a range while still holding on to his own very specific style.
This documentary on burning oil fields is equally harrowing and awe-inspiring. Hypnotic and frightening, overwhelming and terrifyingly beautiful. The two interviews with traumatised people who have lost their speech are absolutely heartbreaking.
Strange, surreal yet unique documentary from Werner Herzog shows the disastrous effects of various oil fields in Kuwait and how many have died for the money involved.
This isn't your typical documentary because there's very few interviews and instead of talk Herzog just lets the camera tell the story. For the most part Herzog and his cameraman are inside a helicopter flying around and capturing the distraction from the air. The film, with its strange and haunting music score, plays more like a science fiction or horror movie over a documentary. There are two interviews throughout the film with the most haunting one coming from a woman holding her young son who had his head crushed in by troops. The…
The footage alone might've worked for me, but Herzog's pseudo-quirky-philosophy narration combined with the overbearing soundtrack (the use of Wagner makes Herzog's Gesamtkunstwerk attempt very obvious) make this a very dull and surprisingly didactic endeavour.
Precious few words in this magnificent doc but what words are there to describe what has been done in the name of democracy? A terrible beauty of image and sound, The Tree of Life in hell.
For a while I thought the film was going to be a juxtaposition of the literal physical trauma war has on the geographic landscape with the psychological trauma of violence, but the movie quickly abandoned that idea for just some more beautiful imagery of burning oil fields. I don't think the film is quite as intelligent as it thinks itself to be, but it's hands down worth a watch for the awe-inspiring photography alone.
Herzog seeks catharsis through destruction.
Lessons of Darkness conists of the most harrowing, symphonic, overwhelming visuals in any modern day documentary. The flying shots never feel operated through the side of a helicopter, but instead become their own ghostly entities, soaring hopelessly toward bottomless craters in the sky. The camera goes so far beyond what one would think it could possibly go, approaching so close to the calamity that you feel as engulfed in the flames as the men who passionately attempt to repair the broken pipelines.
Herzog’s narration never feels informative of a factual event in history. His voiceover in this piece sounds like someone reading various fragments of tragic fairytales. The images he narrates over translate as poetically and ominously as his words.
hauntingly apocalyptic in both sparse serenity and primordial bombast; hard, at times, to fathom
After viewing this, I'm convinced Peter Jackson, consciously or unconsciously, operated with Lessons of Darkness as his muse for animating and bringing Mordor to the big screen. The apocalyptic desert mixed with blackening skies as spits of fire rage. I was honestly waiting for Legolas to pop out a few arrows and for a few textbook Nazgul screeches. Instead it was just...some beautiful cinematography with a poetic-kind of approach to a documentary.
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High-rated movies with very few views. Suggestions are welcome.
