Welcome to our class blog! So what did you think of Signs of Life - Werner Herzog's first feature, which he made when he was 24? What stood out to you - visually, aurally, narratively, thematically, etc? Did you like it? Did you not like it? I can't wait to find out.
Please compose your thoughts and post a fairly in-depth response to Signs of Life here. Say whatever you want, just make sure you mean what you say.
Finally, I encourage you to write your response in a separate document and then cut and paste it into the comments section of this post. Sometimes longer comments get cut off here, in which case you might have to post your thoughts in two parts.
Have fun, and be sure to post your responses no later than 12 noon next Wednesday morning, September 16. I really look forward to reading what you write!
As someone who has never seen a Werner Herzog film in my life up until this point, I’m not totally sure where it is that I stand on his film Signs of Life. There were things I liked, things I didn’t like, and things I’m totally indifferent to. So, perhaps maybe it wasn’t the best place for a newbie like me to dive-in to Werner Herzog’s filmography – but who knows? I’m still holding out hope he didn’t butcher the remakes that he did of two of my favorite films: Nosferatu and Bad Lieutenant. Based on Signs of Life, however, I find that to be unlikely. While the film seems longer than it ought to be in certain parts, and does drag a bit in the second act – Signs of Life showcases some brilliant moments too. I particularly liked the constant referencing of trapped insects. At first, these references didn’t make a great deal of sense, but obviously they were important considering Herzog’s continuous placement of them within the story (cockroaches, fly, caterpillars, etc. etc.). It wasn’t until Stroszek went mad that I fully grasped what it was Herzog was saying about these particular characters. Like the insects, or trapped animals, Stroszek became dangerous and desperate. Insects, while desperate in a trapped condition, are powerless and harmless to human beings, just as in the end Stroszek is rather easily displaced by the military forces (so easily it is almost mentioned as an afterthought). And like Meinhard pouring the insecticide onto the cockroaches, Stroszek meets a tragic and inevitable fate. Because the audience saw what happened to the cockroaches, they ultimately know that the German military’s first attempts to try and reason with Stroszek are going to fail. After class, Dan had brought up to me and another student that American audiences are used to being spoon-fed their plots and stories. Yet, Herzog, as a European filmmaker doesn’t seem as totally concerned with story as Americans would maybe want him to be (something I can gauge from other European filmmakers like Dario Argento who focuses mainly on technical aspects and Lucio Fulci who had no regard for coherent storyline whatsoever). I think knowing this now gives me a more of an appreciation than a disposition for Signs of Life and hopefully for other Herzog films to come.
ReplyDelete"Signs of Life" illustrates the stark contrast between control and chaos through sound and image. In addition, Werner Herzog’s film repeatedly shows example of hypnotism through image. We first meet the main character, Stroszek and his wife, Nora as well as his two army companions: Meinhard and Becker as they are confined to a half demolished fort off the coast of Greece to allow Stroszek to recuperate from a head injury received during the war. Stroszek becomes increasingly irritable as time progresses, eventually becoming so distressed, he turns on his wife and two friends as well as the entire island of Kos by threatening to blow up a large sum of ammo.
ReplyDeleteAs the film progresses, Herzog illustrates the contrast between sound and image several times, almost foreshadowing Stroszek’s ultimate demise. The first example we see is when Herzog is showing various images of dead soldiers face down, while at the same time what we are hearing is a rather pleasant and light guitar instrumental. We were seeing chaos while we are hearing control. The second example is when Stroszek has his first episode of delusion up on the hill, staring at the windmills. Stroszek begins firing his weapon as his friend tries patiently to calm him down. The same acoustic guitar solo is being played in the background. The third and fourth instances are when Strozsek is chasing his two friends and Norma around the fort with his rifle, as well as when he shoots off most of the fireworks in his possession. Again, we are seeing chaos, but hearing a controlled and rather peaceful melody.
Finally, as stated before, Herzog uses hypnotism through image. During the windmill scene, we as the audience are forced to see what Stroszek sees. The camera angles itself towards the hundreds of windmills and begins moving at a much more rapid pace. Faster and faster the camera moves making the image on-screen rather disorienting and alarming for the viewers. I believe Herzog did this to illustrate the delusion and outbreak Stroszek was experiencing during his first episode. "Signs of Life" is a rather disturbing first piece for Herzog, as his main theme throughout the film was chaos versus control. Ultimately, I do believe Herzog did a fantastic job at illustrating “signs of life” within a person of delusion and hypnotism.
Mia Brady
9/11/15
Signs of Life is the only feature length film of Werner Herzog’s I have seen, that is not a documentary. I most definitely enjoyed watching it because it was a fairly new experience to me, and I am excited to see more of his work in the future. The simplicity of the film with it's well-mannered, and thoughtful imagery successfully highlights the subjects' environment equally as much as the subjects themselves. The film was always pleasing to look at but the pace at times would go into somewhat of lull before reviving itself by cutting away to something more attention grabbing. For example, there is a shot where one of the soldiers is wandering across a desolate, windswept beach not really doing much of anything. Yet as he walks the shot lingers and stretches far past a comfortable period of time. The camera sits motionless as the soldier walks farther and farther away and continues to decrease in size. The shot overall is nothing phenomenal by any means, and in a way it's quite boring, but seemingly for a good reason. It forces the audience to feel a deep sense of anxiety and step into an almost mind-numbing experience, much like what the main character is going through. I believe this is simply an example of how Herzog was trying to convey a sense of isolation, and the desire for some kind of active stimulation that the three soldiers in the film were so desperately seeking. I really liked this about Signs of Life because I always felt what the characters in the film were feeling, no more, no less. Also, the music was so indescribably beautiful that the soundtrack alone could probably have me laying in a puddle of my own tears. At times I felt overwhelmed by the emotions evoked by such breathtakingly, simplistic imagery in perfect harmony with such heartwarming, organic sounds. I have never seen a film that has affected me in such a way that I didn't truly feel the intensity of how it affected me until days after I viewed the film. That is truly amazing and now I can never go back to how things were, nor would I ever want to. I cannot express how excited I am to be able to study Werner Herzog in such depth, with by far one of my favorite professors.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest takeaways of Werner Herzog's Signs of Life I took away is his use of camera movement and placement. The loneliness of the cinematography really explains the mindset of these soldiers, within the confines of the Villa.
ReplyDeleteThere is never a shot in the film that seems complex.However, the whole time I felt as if I were seeing a character study of complex men, overwhelmed by the dynamics of both war and life. The sweeping imagery of the desert land is beautiful and serene, but also very much a wasteland of heat and anxiety, as the soldiers seemingly struggle to make life worth living and hold on to sanity.
The music for me is also one of the huge stand out moments of the film. The aural aesthetic acts as both a cheerful tune, but at the same time cynical to both meaning and visual. The music and atmosphere is beautiful together, but to someone trapped within a small sector of a larger scale, the music acts as a contrasting lesson in psychological conflict.
The acting does not seem like that of a independent film or even an arthouse. I felt like I was watching a documentary of sorts, that had been edited for the sake of style and narrative. It added a sense of realism to the story and allowed the audience to feel as if we are watching the memoirs of foreign troops on film, rather than dramatic examples on the screen.
I really enjoy the abstract dialogue, the imagery the camera telling us the story of movement. Herzog is in a league of his own, but I can now see where some of my favorite directors (ie. Nicholas Winding Refn) get their inspiration from with storytelling aesthetics. I'm super excited to watch his other material and learn more about this gentleman and his craft.
Signs of Life is the first Werner Herzog feature that I have ever seen and I quite enjoyed multiple aspects of this short film! Being a new experience to me, I really did appreciate the cinematography of this film. One major aspect would be the scenery and use of camera movements throughout the film. At the beginning of the film, Werner Herzog captures the Earthy-Mountain environment that seems near inhabitable. Throughout the screening the camera uses a variety of pan shots and tilted point of views to capture an individuals persona. After the pan shot of the Mountain, Werner Herzog starts the film off with a brief series of clips of how the main character was injured and used the techniques of camera angles to show how he slowly loses his mind by aggressive behaviors, throwing objects, etc. As “Signs of Life” progresses, we can truly forshadow Stroszek’s future.
ReplyDeleteWerner Herzog used a unique tactic in this films dialog by using short but powerful single character lines. For example when Stroszek was sitting on the peer with the children handing each other cigarettes, the kids where mocking another child who had said, “Now that I can speak, what should I say?”. When the child had said this, it was an incredible statement of a child finding their voice. Which really could reflect on Werner Herzog’s major stands in helping his audience find their voice.
Ultimately, Werner Herzogs’ short film was about chaos vs. control, which was portrayed at the mountain top when windmills were rapidly moving, the constant use of fireworks and explosives being viewed and demonstrates to show Stroszek’s madness taking over. Along with chasing his wife and 2 friends in the field firing a rifle if sheer anger.
Overall, this film was a fantastic short and I look forward to much more of Werner Herzog’s work.
Nicholas Duerdoth
Signs of Life was quite an odd film. It is very clearly a freshman entry into the world of filmmaking, with all the bumps and bruises one would expect. But there are moments of greatness in it that offer an insight into the filmmaker to be. The film was borderline experimental, with a great emphasis on sound. As a location audio recordist, it was refreshing to see how sound is respected and utilized by Herzog. The gunshots seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere once Strozek loses his mind and starts firing into the town really are impactful as an audio effect. The film's story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but the plot is very interesting. It shows the remarkable banality of the life of a soldier, especially one without anything to do posted wel behind the line.
ReplyDeleteThe film is indifferent to Strozek and his desire of escape and starting a family with Nora, he must continue to guard the empty fort for no other reason than someone must. The scene where he loses his mind while viewing the windmills is especially good. He gets to do something he wants, go on patrol, but soon after starting it is faced by something he can’t comprehend and simply goes insane. That unremarkable nature of insanity mixed with duty is very Herzog and resonates deeply.
The film wasn’t bad for a first time filmmaker, and I look forward to getting to some of Herzog's more obscure and weird films.
Jake Hughes
9/14/15
Filmmaker Werner Herzog’s career spanning 53 years, from his first written and directed short “Herakles” in 1962 to his 2015, Kidman-led “Queen of the Desert”, is largely made up of three core ideas. First is Herzog’s unadulterated love and appreciation for the natural, this possibly was not displayed any more beautifully than in his “Heart of Glass”. Second, he has an immense curiosity with the human psyche, à la “The Enigma of Kasper Hauser”. Lastly, Herzog is a man of great scope, therefore his films and their protagonists are works of art and characters of magnificent scope. His last attribute is most grandly seen in his “Fitzcarraldo”
ReplyDelete“Signs of Life”, Herzog’s first feature length film, made in 1968 at the tender age of 24, embodies two of his most important ideals. Early in the film it is very apparent that he already had an eye for beautiful landscapes, shooting the most of the film in Greece on the picturesque island of Kos. Not too much later into his career, Herzog began to make all of his films in color, a wise decision considering his undeniable taste for colored nature, as one is meant to see it.
Although not so clear until midday through, this is also a film about human mental condition. The audience clearly sees this, in a magisterial scene of filmmaking, when Stroszek, played brilliantly by Peter Brogle almost foreshadowing Kinski, breaks down on the top of a hill while staring at thousands of windmills, all constantly turning. Herzog is showing his early understanding of the importance of symbolism in cinema.
Herzog, at that time already an extremely interesting and unique character in his own right, was showcasing his filmmaking prowess and expert location scout. A very impressive film made by anybody at the age of 24, however “Signs of Life” is ultimately primitive Herzog, just not expressing the grandness that he later would, but definitely a well-made preview of a magic career ahead.
An impressive work for a 24 year old. I've only ever seen Rescue Dawn by Herzog so I still have no idea what kind of filmmaker he is. The landscape shots are real nice to look at, even in black and white. Having visited Greece before, the film gave me flashbacks to being there. Yes, the beaches are rocks instead of sand. Also, the music in the film is the same music that played over my grandma's radio when I was younger so Herzog does a good job at establishing the setting.
ReplyDeleteThe film does a good job at making me feel stir crazy as the soldiers are going through the same. Perhaps this is through camera placement or longer takes, I'm not too sure. I'm also not sure if the film was meant to be as funny as I found it. It reminded me of a more realistic version of The Office. I feel like the ending of this film is what would happen to me if I lived a life as mundane as the soldiers lived while on the island.
With this being Herzog's debut feature, I can sort of gage what's to come. He likes to deal with big themes hidden within smaller stories. I can already connect this film to Rescue Dawn, a film about soldiers who are held in a prison camp. Signs of Life also deals with soldiers who are (less) ostensibly being held captive. Just like the insects they kill with insecticide. I especially liked how they eventually sympathized with the insects, like the fly in the wooden owl. The shots of the insects as well as other shots in the film remind of the work of Nicolas Roeg, who also had an eye for connecting life to decay.
The structure of the film reminded me of silent films. It basically is a silent fillm but with sound. I say this because instead of title cards, Herzog narrates. Without the narration I don't think I would've had a solid grasp on what was happening in certain scenes.
All in all, this film made me very interested to continue looking at Herzog's work.
There are many thoughts that I have had since we finished watching Signs of Life almost a week ago and they are mostly based around general confusion. I don't know if it's because I'm young and ignorant or whatever, but I found myself walking away from that film completely baffled on what I just experienced. Although I am utterly lost when it comes to many aspects of this film, there is still so much admirable work that comprised one of the longest 90 minute segments of my life.
ReplyDeleteFor one, the scenery was incredible. Every single shot, whether it be the winding road in the beginning, the laundry billowing in the wind, the houses stacked along the shore, the flares exploding off the water (you get my drift, pretty scenery, blah, blah, blah) brought such an element of beauty to this piece.
My biggest complaints about this movie (as told my the hand-written stream of consciousness notes I took during the film) were apparently all aimed at the wife. I’m not entirely sure why, but from the moment she appeared on the screen, i hated her. Of the 24 bullet points I jotted down during the film, 6 of them were negative criticisms about her. I cannot explain or justify this turn of events, I can only report on it as it happened.
Overall, this piece was fairly interesting. The scenery was beautiful… I don’t have a whole lot of other compliments, but the scenery was AMAZING. This film was way out of my wheelhouse, therefore I feel as if I’m not the best person to make any sort of commentary about it, but I do think that there were parts of this film that were quite interesting and if Herzog’s abilities have adapted as drastically as I hope they have since this film was made, I’m sure this rest of his films are phenomenal (fingers crossed).
Signs of Life was the first feature I’ve seen by Herzog. I’m going to be honest when I say that I’m not as familiar with older films as I should be, but for a movie from the ‘60s, I thought it was a decent film. There were definitely parts of the film that I enjoyed and some parts I didn’t.
ReplyDeleteA few examples of the enjoyable aspects would have to cinematography. I enjoy cinematography myself, and I thought there were many beautiful, well composed shots throughout the film, most notably the wider shots. One of the best shots of the film was when the soldiers from the Captain’s quarters were discussing the plan and the fireworks began to go off. The camera movement from the room to the window overlooking the fortress was phenomenal. Another aspect I really enjoyed about the film was the characters. Though I really enjoyed the main character’s overall performance, I think some supporting roles stuck out to me more. As Stroszek progressively descends to madness, those around him try to stay sane. I really enjoyed the scene with the pianist, for example. It was such a pleasant scene in which Stroszek was able to find some excitement during his demeaning new task. I felt that he and Stroszek made a real friendly connection.
On the other hand, I felt that Stroszek’s relationship with the other members of his unit could have been more so established. I knew that they were on the same unit, but other than that, they could have been complete strangers to one another. It would have been nice to see more of a past connection among those characters.
One last thing I want to comment on was the pacing. I think overall, the film could have been cut short. Some scenes, in my opinion dragged on just a hair such as the scene in which. At the end of the day, I anticipate that this film was only the tip of the iceberg for Herzog. I can’t wait to see more of his films during this class.
Being only 24 years old when making “Signs of Life,” Werner Herzog made an incredibly powerful film for such a young age. He already showed a great emotional intelligence and understanding of the human psyche and psychosis. “Signs of Life” is a seemingly tedious film, but it’s done conscientiously. There’s a method to Herzog’s madness in the madness of Stroszek’s boredom. The somewhat painstaking pace is done deliberately as to give a feel of the isolation and dreariness of the soldier’s stay on the Greek island, far away from the hostilities and reality of World War 2.
ReplyDelete“Signs of Life” is only the third film of Werner Herzog’s I’ve seen, after “Grizzly Man” and “Rescue Dawn,” but I believe I began to understand the true filmmaker that he is. During the presentation, I watched from the back of the room as countless other students’ heads nodded back as their bodies tried to fight sleep, as I fought the feeling of slowing slipping into madness as Stoszek does in the film. I know believing the point of the film is feeling your own sanity slip as you begin to experience what it was really like on that island for Stroszek is a very American way of looking of looking at it, but I truly felt I was hypnotized by said feeling. The island in the film felt like Purgatory, and my wait wasn’t of judgment like it may have been for the men, but to see where the colorless film was taking me. By the end of the film, I believed the men were already dead. I’m a man of simplicity, meat and potatoes as you would say, but there’s a genius in Herzog’s minimalism. Something I personally admire. Too many movies today feel the need to spoon-feed their audiences, and I’m afraid people are too used to it now. So much so, I don’t believe a movie like “Signs of Life” could be made today, especially by a freshman director. All I can really say after seeing this is I can’t wait to see where Herzog’s career goes from here throughout our class.
Andrew Giacomazza
“The poet must not avert their eyes.” Herzog’s Signs of Life is the display of slow, creeping madness eradicating reality. At 24, Herzog is clearly intrigued with the human minds’ decay under certain circumstances. The whole setting is very surreal. Visually, this movie is quite profound: fireworks exploding in the air (representing Stroszek’s breaking point), cockroaches (debatably representing the war at large), and a valley of windmills (Stroszek’s first breakdown). There is much mystery here and Herzog designed it as such; whether everyone has the same interpretation of this mystery rests entirely on their views of the cinematic world. I see tremendous overtones indicating the horrible nature of war, though this regiment seems to be isolated from it. “That’s what they get for being so repulsive,” Meinhart says devising schemes to entrap and kill cockroaches. This line can easily be broadcast over the entire war, or, more specifically, the holocaust. It isn’t that the cockroaches are objectively repulsive, only to people with a built-in aversion to them (through their upbringing). The most interesting part to me was with the chalk drawings. When a circle was drawn, I felt it represented their lives, even our lives as a whole. How we are helpless to wander around this circle for all our days until it drives us to death. Realizing the circle is there is what drives people to madness; such is the case of Stroszek, and I believe that was the point of the ambitious, young filmmaker.
ReplyDeleteAs many folks have said, this was my first exposure to Herzog's feature-length work. I wasn't even initially aware that he made narrative fiction films. Yet, I can see how his narrative decisions and character development focus on themes that (I've heard) show up in his later films, namely primal response and the breaking down of social consciousness into desperation, chaos, and entrapment. The pacing seemed languid at times, only to break into a jolting moments of impact and intensity, reawakening our concentration and pulling us back into the story without forcing high action throughout.
ReplyDeleteThe music reminds me of Karas' Third Man soundtrack, offering a counterpoint mood and heightened awareness to the action onscreen and the characters' idiosyncrasies. This was likely the aspect of the film that struck me the most.
There’s a scene somewhere in this film where Stroszek defiantly holds on a firecracker as he lights it. As the audience watches close-up of the firecracker, we’re excited at the chaos of it; when it turns out to be a dud, we feel we’ve been cheated, especially Stroszek. And that’s the tragedy of Stroszek.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say “cheated,” I mean that in a complimenting way. Here, Herzog has presented to us an entertaining look at soldiers struggling to survive not warfare, but complete boredom. Anything from pest control to repainting walls is considered the highlights of their days, and if they’re not doing anything, they’re sleeping. It’s both comical and slightly disturbing at how much they obsess over these mundane pastimes.
A common trope of soldiers in stories is that they yearn to go back to home and normalcy. In Signs of Life, the opposite seems to apply. However, somewhere in the film, I believed Stroszek genuinely welcomed the idea of settling down with Nora and raising a family with her. It wasn’t until he just happened to listen and be entranced by the graceful but chaotic playing of Chopin’s music that he may have realized what he’s really been craving, and how trapped he ultimately felt. Like any other trapped creature (especially animals, in this particular film), Stroszek desired freedom, and it’s that desire that I find to be one of the titular “signs of life,” if not the most powerful one.
The first thing I noticed about Signs of Life was the clash between chaos and serenity. Though they were all waiting on an imminent storm, their lives were anything but chaotic. The film goes on to answer the question, "what do you do while you're waiting on a war?" And the simple answer is "you keep on living." However, in that life remains the mundane of the every day, and beneath the mundane lies silence. Stroszek comes to find that in that silence, he is faced with his own fragile sanity. Most of what is spoken in the film is meaningless, purely conversation had for the sake of speaking and nothing more. It is in that silence where the characters feel, learn, observe, and eventually, crumble.
ReplyDeleteHaving seen a good number of Herzog's earlier films, this kind of blew me away. He's still making movies about the same ideas. One interesting thing about his films is that the characters often take on insurmountable odds. What makes him different, is that instead of the obstacles driving the characters mad, their madness is what brings them to attempt these feats in the first place. It's as if he's saying there's some kind of salvation in madness. The music was amazing in this film. It seemed to capture the beauty of the landscape and the insanity of Stroszek at the same time. At times it actually was anachronistic to what was happening in the scene, such as his breakdown at the windmills. If there were no dialogue, the music could probably tell this story just as effectively.
ReplyDeleteFor being only 24 years old, this film is wonderful. I honestly felt like I was going crazy alongside the main character. The long, desolate shots made me feel like the place where these soldiers were living was in another universe entirely. Was it one of my favorite films I’ve seen of Herzog’s? The answer would be no, but that doesn’t mean I did not enjoy it for what it is. War is a drug, and Stroszek has tasted it. In the war documentary Restrepo, one of the soldiers says that once a bullet goes flying past your head and you’re still standing there breathing, nothing will ever compare to that rush of adrenaline. Going from one extreme to the next, it is easy to see how Stroszek started to lose his mind in a place that empty and bare. Stroszek even becomes so bored and stir crazy, he lights a rocket in his hand and holds onto it. The audience, along with Stroszek, feels cheated. The sight of chaos right before our eyes burns out and becomes an empty promise. So badly does Stroszek want his freedom back, he eventually goes mad, like some rat trapped in a cage. And I believe this is what I took away most from this film. Freedom is life, and for a Nazi soldier to be stuck on some Greek island, trapped and away from the glorious battlefield, it is a slower and even more painful death than dying in the midst of a battle.
ReplyDeleteAs I was absent when this film was watched, I watched it after. I understand why this film had to be watched first, and I wish I watched it before the other films that influenced my perception of this one. It's not only important because this was one of Herzog's first films. It was important because it was a good introduction of his entire career. This film contains all the elements that keep reoccurring in his later works. Those elements are loneliness (there is not a single film by Herzog that doesn't have a lonely character), order versus chaos, war versus life and normality versus madness. Interestingly enough, I didn't understand first that the main character went nuts. This showed me that the world created by Herzog in his films is so abnormal that craziness is very hard to differentiate from rationality.
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