Werner Herzog

By Mélodie Bibeau and Isabelle Leduc

On Werner Herzog

Nationality : German

Occupation: Director, producer, writer, actor

Birth Details: September 5, 1942, Munich, Germany

His well-documented production difficulties - dragging a ship over a mountain, attempting to film the eruption of a volcano, hypnotizing an entire cast - may well be extra-filmic means of establishing the authenticity of his films, but in Herzog’s case they threaten to become the real event of which the actual film is merely a record. 

“Film,” Herzog insists, “is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates,” and it is not surprising that his work has aroused contradictory responses. Those who are fascinated by his awe-inspiring landscapes and enigmatic heroes see him as a poet whose work is haunting, sublime and mysterious; others see him as a mystic-or worse, as a mystifier - whose films are regressive, self-indulgent and naïvely romantic.

Sublime landscapes, astounding images, and haunting music are the hallmark of Herzog’s films.  Given his obsession with quasi-mystical images and landscapes, it is not surprising that many consider his “documentaries” to be his best work. As is the case with a number of other directors of the New German Cinema, the reception of Herzog’s films has been more favorable in France, England and the United States than in his own country.

He was famously know for his documentary Grizzly Man (2005), a docudrama that centers on amateur grizzly bear expert Timothy Treadwell. He periodically journeyed to Alaska to study and live with the bears. He was killed, along with his his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, by a rogue bear in October 2003. The films explores their compassionate lives as they found solace among these endangered animals. Along the film we can hear Werner Herzog’s point of view of the situation.