FATA MORGANA

Herzog says about Fata Morgana, "Maybe more than any film I have made, it is the one that needs to be completed by the audience, which means all feelings, thoughts and interpretations are welcome."

Herzog's dear friend, the legendary film scholar Amos Vogel, writes that the film "provides a key to the director's universe. Fata Morgana emerges as a sardonic comment on technology, sentimentality, despoliation of land and people, projected by a suffering visionary tremblingly aware of our limited possibilities, outrageous perseverance, and almost bearable ridiculousness."

Is Fata Morgana, as Vogel goes on to say, "a cosmic pun on cinéma vérité"? With this film, has Herzog "recovered the metaphysical beneath the visible"? If so, how?

Feel free to address Vogel's comments in your post. Regardless, I look forward to seeing how you complete this film with your feelings, thoughts and interpretations - by no later than 12noon next Wednesday, of course.

EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL

Even Dwarfs Started Small is pretty bizarre, right? Even by Herzog's standards. The film, which has become somewhat of a cult classic, enraged those from the Left and the Right during the late 1960's when it was made. Herzog claims many thought Dwarfs was ridiculing the student revolutions that were taking place during the time. He resists this interpretation, even while antagonizing those who made it. "I told these agitators that the film has absolutely nothing to do with the 1968 movements, that they were blinded by zealousness and that if they looked at the film twenty years down the line they just might see a more truthful representation of what happened in 1968 than in most other films."

So what did you think? More importantly, what did you feel?  How does Even Dwarfs Started Small connect to the previous creations of Herzog's we've seen (Herakles; The Unprecedented Defense of the Fortress Deutschkreuz; Signs of Life) - or does it? What does this film mean - or is it meaningless?

I definitely look forward to seeing how you sort this one out - what you liked, what you didn't like, and what it meant to you. I mean, this film is so intense and so extreme it's hard not to have an opinion about it, right? So please post your in-depth, inspired response to this strange piece of work by no later than 12 noon next Wednesday.

And have fun!

SIGNS OF LIFE

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!