Werner Herzog

A film by Peter Buchka

Right from the very start Herzog proclaimed the hugely selfconfident ambition of bringing images into the cinema which had never been seen before his arrival. This is the point of departure for Herzog’s pull to the edges of the world. In the same way his method of filmmaking also becomes almost an athletic challenge.

What fascinates Herzog here is not just the exotic (that would be too cheap) but above all a way of looking at the world unknown until now: these never-seen-before images are intended to irritate our common ways of thinking. In a way, the eyes should open the head and free it for new experiences. From his very first film ("A Pan Across the Windmills") this visual expansion of consciousness has been in bond with a creative frenzy.

The frenzy of this new look can only begin to reveal itself when it meets the boundaries of social conventions. Herzog’s central characters are outsiders who challenge society (or all of mankind!) by wanting to alter these boundaries. Through this they become heroes.

These heroes however live in unheroic times. Their deeds are never called for by society and therefore they appear so frenetically mad. However, as these figures want to remain true to themselves and as they have to do whatever they were born or damned to do whatever the resistance, they re forced to fail. Herzog’s heroes experience on this earth something close to messianic passion.

Author and Director	Peter Buchka
Director of Photography	Nikolaus Starkmeth
Sound Mixer	Guenter Hablik
Editor	Matthias Bauer
Supervising Producer	Harald Stuckmann
Co-Producer	Oliver Boeck, Wolfgang Brudny
Producer	Joerg Bundschuh

A Kick Film production in coproduction with BR