Obsession and outsiders in first installment of Werner Herzog: Lessons of Darkness retrospective
Aguirre: Wrath of God, Stroszek, and other 1970s standouts kick off The Cinematheque series
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Aguirre: Wrath of God
The Cinematheque presents Werner Herzog: Lessons of Darkness through 2021
AS ANYONE WHO has heard him wax poetic in Cave of Forgotten Dreams or seen him insist on the dragging an old ship up a mountain in Burden of Dreams knows, Werner Herzog is an extraordinary person.
And so it is that, over his prolific career, the German master has also focused his lens on people who are exceptional outsiders—and often, obsessive and strange as well.
You’ll see some of his most out-there dramatic-film characters come to life in The Cinematheque’s first installment of Werner Herzog: Lessons of Darkness, a massive retrospective of the prolific filmmaker’s output. Amid the ‘70s films here are Aguirre: Wrath of God, Stroszek, The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, and Woyzeck—featuring a quartet of deeply unconventional protagonists, two of them played by Herzog’s mad muse Klaus Kinski.
Aguirre, from 1972, finds said star trudging through the fog-shrouded Peruvian and Amazonian jungle, leading a doomed expedition of Spanish conquistadors and slaves on a quest to find El Dorado. Rumours about the director’s conflict with Kinski only fuel the trip into insanity and disaster here.
Kinski also plays the 1979 film Woyzeck’s titular tormented soldier; with the shoot happening only days after the making of Nosferatu The Vampyre, the actor’s exhaustion reportedly added to the unravelling despair in the role. (Watch for Nosferatu closer to Halloween as part of this series.) The film feels austere and raw for Herzog, shot as it was over just two and a half weeks.
And then there are two of Herzog’s ultimate misfits, both played by Bruno Schleinstein (“Bruno S.”, former asylum inmate and forklift operator). In 1977’s Stroszek, a man is released from jail in Berlin, only to emigrate to America and fall into a new world of trouble. In 1974’s The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, Bruno S. is a mystery man who’s been locked up in a cellar for 20 years. When he’s adopted by friendly townsfolk, he learns to read and write—but can he survive after so many years of abuse?
Find exact showtimes here. And watch for many more "extraordinary" installments over the fall.
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