The films of Werner Herzog haunt that hazy corridor between dream and reality, where madness and the true nature of the universe lurk. They’re surreal, but not by any of the boiler-plate attributes we associate with head-trip cinema. They’re horrific, but never by cheap shocks. They’re beautiful, but not in a painterly sense. Each one is a tone poem searching for both new images and what Herzog calls the “ecstatic truth,” a blending of fact and fiction for a higher cause. There’s a uniqueness to his films that’s unforgettable.
I not only admire Herzog’s films, I admire the man behind them. Herzog’s fearlessness is fascinating. He’s an artist who risks it all to get “the shot.” Studio backlot shooting is not an option. His obsessive, nearly self-destructive need to film in the hottest of jungles or the coldest spots of Antarctica reaps both great footage and legendary behind-the-scenes stories. Herzog is a man of many tales, a true badass (see video to the right) that makes Dos Equis’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” look like an office accountant.
Over the last few months, I screened every (Netflix available) Herzog film I hadn’t seen, including his shorts. Now, in honor of the DVD release of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done and the Toronto Film Festival premiere of Caves of Forgotten Dreams I have the formidable task of ranking Herzog’s films. Something he would maybe view as an obscenity or a futile act of reigning in the abstract. Or maybe not. Often Herzog takes a left when you expect a right. Regardless, I only dislike one film on his lengthy resume: The Wild Blue Yonder.
So picking only ten was a tough task. To make it easier, I stuck with his feature-length films. Yet, The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner and La Soufriere are brilliant shorts. Also, I must give recognition to two films Herzog didn’t write or direct but every fan should watch. Les Blanks’ Burden of Dreams chronicles the nightmarish filming of Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, which involved everything from actors quitting to planes crashing and land wars between Peru and Ecuador. The film rivals — and some would argue bests — Hearts of Darkness as the greatest “making of” documentary ever filmed. Also give Zak Penn’s Incident at Loch Ness a viewing. It’s a mockumentary starring Herzog, who plays himself on an expedition to film the Loch Ness monster. Penn’s film captures the essence of who Herzog is and what he does better than any “real” documentary every could.
With the introduction out of the way let’s dive in and see what we find.
