Fuse Book/Film Review: Director Werner Herzog Captures Ferocious Reality

In his book Ferocious Reality, Eric Ames offers an insightful, well organized, and readable study of Werner Herzog’s documentary work that explores the director’s earliest films as well as his most recent.

ames_ferocious coverWerner Herzog is the rare filmmaker who works successfully in fiction and non-fiction, blazing controversial trails in both genres. Battles during the production of his early narrative successes Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: Wrath of God have been well documented. While shooting Fitzcarraldo, he demanded that his crew and actors pull a huge steamship over a steep hill between two tributaries in the Amazon for the sake of verisimilitude. Les Blanc’s film Burden of Dreams documents this feat. The director’s frenzied relationship with his friend, the eccentric Klaus Kinski (lead actor in both films) was chronicled in Herzog’s film My Best Fiend. He continues to direct features such as Rescue Dawn, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. Herzoz has also recently created three critically praised documentaries: Encounters at the End of the World, Into the Abyss, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

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Published in: Fuse
By: Tim Jackson