Werner Herzog's The White Diamond is further evidence the German director possesses a one-of-a-kind wonderment and curiosity with the world around him. No other filmmaker possesses Herzog's child-like innocence and this is precisely why no other filmmaker can capture the bizarre and touching, magic-realism common in many Herzog films.
WD is familiar Herzog ground, this time his fixation with obsessed eccentrics leads his lens to Dr. Graham Dorrington, a man determined to build a zeppelin-like flying machine to explore the seldom seen canopy of the South American rain forest. Complicating matters, Dorrington's impossible dream is haunted by a tragic accident that cost his colleague (biologist) Dieter Plage his life.
There's no question Herzog himself is an obsessed eccentric and we're witness to this when he shares screen time with Dorrington, each of them battling to make their vision a reality. In one telling scene we watch as Herzog's undaunted will and laughably adolescent logic trumps Dorrington's overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility. As this scene plays out and things do go wrong, you realize Herzog has no problem sacrificing everything - including his life- to make his film. You can't help but think of Fitzcarraldo and how powerful (and possibly insane) the will of this man truly is. As he's strapped into the zeppelin before its maiden flight, Herzog grips his camera and defines his unwavering faith by declaring: "In cinema we trust."
WD isn't without its flaws, one of which is Herzog's overzealous lust to portray the Guyanese guide Marc Anthony as a mythical sage. Marc is a peaceful and serene man, but Herzog's camera lingers on him to a point where an act is coaxed out of Marc, one not nearly as profound as Herzog wishes it to be. But there are so many other moments of sheer magic that you can't help but excuse Herzog for the same naïveté that more often than not, elevates his films to a special place. Perhaps the most poetic moment in the film is when another of the local guides dances atop a rock formation adjacent to the mystical and daunting Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana. These same falls boast a legend that no man has ever explored behind the falls and when Herzog manages to film images of this no- man's land, he opts to not show the images out of respect for the local mythology. Few filmmakers would ever show such reverence for preserving myth than someone so deft at creating them himself.
http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/
WD is familiar Herzog ground, this time his fixation with obsessed eccentrics leads his lens to Dr. Graham Dorrington, a man determined to build a zeppelin-like flying machine to explore the seldom seen canopy of the South American rain forest. Complicating matters, Dorrington's impossible dream is haunted by a tragic accident that cost his colleague (biologist) Dieter Plage his life.
There's no question Herzog himself is an obsessed eccentric and we're witness to this when he shares screen time with Dorrington, each of them battling to make their vision a reality. In one telling scene we watch as Herzog's undaunted will and laughably adolescent logic trumps Dorrington's overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility. As this scene plays out and things do go wrong, you realize Herzog has no problem sacrificing everything - including his life- to make his film. You can't help but think of Fitzcarraldo and how powerful (and possibly insane) the will of this man truly is. As he's strapped into the zeppelin before its maiden flight, Herzog grips his camera and defines his unwavering faith by declaring: "In cinema we trust."
WD isn't without its flaws, one of which is Herzog's overzealous lust to portray the Guyanese guide Marc Anthony as a mythical sage. Marc is a peaceful and serene man, but Herzog's camera lingers on him to a point where an act is coaxed out of Marc, one not nearly as profound as Herzog wishes it to be. But there are so many other moments of sheer magic that you can't help but excuse Herzog for the same naïveté that more often than not, elevates his films to a special place. Perhaps the most poetic moment in the film is when another of the local guides dances atop a rock formation adjacent to the mystical and daunting Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana. These same falls boast a legend that no man has ever explored behind the falls and when Herzog manages to film images of this no- man's land, he opts to not show the images out of respect for the local mythology. Few filmmakers would ever show such reverence for preserving myth than someone so deft at creating them himself.
http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/