Lessons of Darkness
We Heart Herzog
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54m
Directed by Werner Herzog | 54 mins | 1992
Saddam Hussein ordered the withdrawal from Kuwait at the end of February, 1991, bringing the Gulf War to a nominal close—but the Iraqi troops would wreak a trail of destruction in their retreat: implementing a scorched earth policy, they set fire to around 75 percent of Kuwait’s oil wells. Before the toxic flames were finally extinguished in November, Herzog captured the images of the ravaged landscape that comprise this apocalyptic cine-poem.
Up Next in We Heart Herzog
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Little Dieter Needs To Fly
Directed by Werner Herzog | 77 mins | 1997
In the German-born U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, Herzog seems to have met his match: Dengler too is a wily, tenacious adventurer, a skilled raconteur-philosopher, and a dreamer of dangerous dreams. This gripping documentary has Dengler recount—and reen... -
Heart of Glass
Directed by Werner Herzog | 95 mins | 1976
As in "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972), Herzog here combines images of misty mountains majesty and the haunting sounds of Popol Vuh with the story of a descent into madness—tripped in this 18th century Bavarian village by the death of the master glassb... -
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Directed by Werner Herzog | 110 mins | 1974
After spotting self-taught outsider artist Bruno S. in a documentary about street musicians, Herzog was determined to work with him, and proceeded to cast this troubled man with zero acting experience who’d been raised in mental institutions as the lead...