Rating: 
Summary: Herzog does a spaghetti western in africa
Review: As many other films and characters created by Werner Herzog, Cobra Verde explores the extent to which cruelty and obsession can lead an individual to his own moral and human defeat. Settled in some west African country, the film is a recreation of the horror of the slave trade embodied in a charatcer, astonishingly played by Klause Kinski, whose amorality and thirst for absolute power equal the madness of characters such as Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre. Like these other two films, also Cobre Verde explores the darkest side of human mind and soul with a clear reference to a very precise historical experience. The three characters share the same obsession for domination and conquest which proves to be fatal to many individuals including themselves. The last scene of the film is absolutely mesmerizing and, at least to me, unforgettable. Cinematography and photography are superb. It is sorprising that it is almost impossible for those who would like to see this film again to find it anywhere to rent it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Cruelty and Conquest
Review: As many other films and characters created by Werner Herzog, Cobra Verde explores the extent to which cruelty and obsession can lead an individual to his own moral and human defeat. Settled in some west African country, the film is a recreation of the horror of the slave trade embodied in a charatcer, astonishingly played by Klause Kinski, whose amorality and thirst for absolute power equal the madness of characters such as Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre. Like these other two films, also Cobre Verde explores the darkest side of human mind and soul with a clear reference to a very precise historical experience. The three characters share the same obsession for domination and conquest which proves to be fatal to many individuals including themselves. The last scene of the film is absolutely mesmerizing and, at least to me, unforgettable. Cinematography and photography are superb. It is sorprising that it is almost impossible for those who would like to see this film again to find it anywhere to rent it out.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting...
Review: COBRA VERDE marked the fiinal collaboration (not counting the director's elegiac documentary MEIN LIEBSTER FEIND) between Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski. It's one of their most haunting works, quietly epic in its scope, fueled by gorgeous cinematography and and an enigmatic lead performance. Herzog's commentary is wonderful. COBRA VERDE is one of those films I find myself rewatching in bits, if only to recapture for a moment the funereal magic of a lost world.
Rating:
Summary: Herzog does a spaghetti western in africa
Review: Good Movie full of lush scenery and color about a bandit who beomes a slave trader on the coast of Africa, starring an out of control Klaus Kinski, As Herzog said Kinski brought something offensive to this film that the director didn't like.. Herzog would have liked to have shot the final scene first to drain Kinski and settle him down. as Herzog said, the film is unfinished and there are shots he'd rather take out. I didn't get the topless native girls singing and the hunchback dwarf cantina scene but it's a Herzog film it's a grand metaphor for something! you don't see much happen til a wide eyed raving Kinski leads the amazon warriors to battle but the end result is disappointing check out how fast a 60 year old plus Klaus can move tho.
Rating:
Summary: KInski and herzogs final film together!
Review: I thought the film started a little slow,but quickly this movie picks up momentum and ends in a big explosion! KLaus Kinskis acting in this film is absolutely brilliant and manically ferocious! Kinski makes us all believe that he is the revered bandit ,Cobra Verde! When Kinski charges past the sacred snake on the ground to kill the african king, we see the rage in his face and voice and we cheer him on,go Cobra verde! This film also has some of werner herzogs best cinematography,comparable to Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo. A lasting collaboration between 2 film giants of world cinema!
Rating:
Summary: The final Herzog/Kinski collaboration
Review: Klaus Kinski, the mercurial actor and star of hundreds of films both big and small, attained his grandest stature when working with German director Werner Herzog. They collaborated on several films together, including "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Fitzcarraldo," "Woyzeck," "Nosferatu," and "Cobra Verde." I've seen three of these films now, and the formula is the same in all three. Kinski plays a driven personality who attempts to perform some grand feat that no one else can achieve. In "Aguirre" he set out with a contingent of Spanish soldiers to find the fabled city of gold. "Fitzcarraldo" saw Kinski playing a wealthy rubber baron in Brazil in search of finding a way to build an opera house on the banks of the Amazon. "Cobra Verde" continues the tradition with Kinski starring as a former South American plantation owner and bandit leader in search of a way to restart the African slave trade against crushing odds. There's something magnetic about Kinski in these Herzog movies that makes you believe no other actor could play the character. Perhaps it is his volcanic personality shining through onscreen, a personality that Herzog had great difficulties in restraining. Whatever the case, film fans could do worse than spend an evening with a Herzog/Kinski collaboration.
In "Cobra Verde" Kinski plays Francisco Manoel da Silva, a man ruined when family catastrophes and a bad drought cost him his plantation. In an attempt to recover his property and put his life back together, he takes a grinding job with a mining company. When the owners try to shortchange him after a hard day's work, he stomps off in a rage and begins a career as the notorious bandit Cobra Verde. While we don't see his subsequent career as a robber and killer, we do learn that all of Brazil--indeed, all of South America--has at least heard of his great exploits. Fortunately for Kinski's character, the wealthy sugar baron Don Octavio Coutinho (Jose Lewgoy) doesn't recognize him when Cobra Verde somehow calms a dangerous runaway slave. Impressed by the man's talents, Coutinho hires da Silva to work as an overseer on his enormous estates. Everything seems to go gangbusters until da Silva impregnates every single one of Don Coutinho's mulatto daughters. The sugar baron goes ballistic, and gets even angrier when he discovers he is dealing with the great Cobra Verde. Coutinho and his fellow kingpins devise a plan to rid themselves of this potentially dangerous force. They decide to send him to Africa.
Why? Because the land barons in South America want more slaves in order to work more land. There are obstacles to the mission, including a ban on the importation of slaves and a hostile African king who kills all of the European mediators. Da Silva knows none of this, or very little of it, before agreeing to go to Africa. He doesn't have much of a choice since the sugar barons will kill him if he refuses. His ship sets him ashore at Elmina, a gigantic barracoon on the coast of present day Ghana. Cobra Verde discovers that an attack on the fortress wiped out all but one man, a chatty free African who agrees to help da Silva negotiate with the King of Dahomey for more slaves. And it works, at first, when da Silva convinces the representatives from Dahomey to trade slaves for new rifles. Then problems set in. The king brings Kinski's character before him and threatens him with death. Da Silva escapes and makes an alliance with a prince who wishes to take over the throne. Thanks to Cobra Verde's manic military training of thousands of African women, the prince captures the throne and allows the slave trade to continue. Once again, the situation deteriorates after a time, forcing Cobra Verde to flee from Elmina with nowhere to go. The last shot we see of him is one of the more memorable scenes I've had the pleasure to see in a film. It stays with you.
The plot of "Cobra Verde" isn't nearly as interesting as Herzog's visuals and Kinski's performance. As always, Kinski captures emotional extremes extraordinarily well. He's subdued when Don Coutinho shows him the brutality of the plantation or when he converses with the Don's daughters. When training the prince's army, he's practically frothing at the mouth. Kinski is never anything but entirely believable in both situations. Of course, it takes a performer of Kinski's caliber to stand out in films where the visuals are often more important than the human elements. Such is the case with "Cobra Verde." I have two favorite scenes in the film, but there are many just as memorable. The first situation takes place when da Silva refuses to visit the king because he says he must stay where he has one foot in the ocean. When the king's men tie da Silva up, they take a jug, fill it with seawater, and tie it around his foot for the long trip inland. There's your one foot in the water! The second scene involves sending messages from Elmina to the new prince. A line of Africans extending for miles along the coast, each man separated by a few feet, send codes by waving enormous red flags. Herzog's camera lingers on this incredible imagery for minutes at a time.
Included on the disc are a trailer and a commentary track with Herzog. The director discusses his tempestuous relationship with Kinski (always a fan favorite), his experiences with Bruce Chatwin and how he convinced this author to let him use "The Viceroy of Ouidah" as source material for the film, and the difficulties of shooting in so many harsh environments. While I liked "Cobra Verde," and think it is obligatory for Klaus Kinski fans, I much prefer "Aguirre" and "Fitzcarraldo" to this film. Still, this one will make you think long after that last, lingering shot on the beach.
Rating:
Summary: A very minor Herzog
Review: Let's admit it: Herzog is God. But God also does uninteresting things sometimes, and here is the example. However, the very last scene of the film is breathtaking.
Rating:
Summary: I am Spartacus! No, I am Aguirre! No, I am Cobra Verde!
Review: The dynamic duo team up again and go to Africa but unfortunately Werner Herzog leaves the script back in Germany. Either that or Herzog must have run out of money or drugs halfway through the shoot. The editing is choppy and while the film feels way too long you get the impression that scenes are missing.It's hard to believe these are the same people that brought us Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, Woyzeck and Nosferatu. Klaus Kinski gets to dress up a bit like Aguirre and kick a snake. He also gets one cool line; "They are our future murderers." He then gets to tug on a boat in a futile attempt to get it in the water in a scene which is supposed to express the madness of ruthless ambition (see Aguirre's end) but is unintentionally evocative of a Monty Python skit. Unhappily, this was their last film together. Rent Fitzcarraldo.
Rating: 
Summary: Herzog and Kinski team-up for their last film together
Review: This 1988 film was the last of the legendary, combative collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski. "Cobra Verde" is based on Bruce Chatwin's novel "The Victory of Ouidah." Kinski plays Francisco Manoel da Silva, a farmer in 19th-century Brazil who becomes a bandit and ends up being exiled to West Africa in order to revive the slave trade. Herzog is covering familiar ground with the outcast once again overwhelmed by a foreign environment. Visually we are offered the spectacle of the grandeur of an untamed world in which man is but an uninvited guest. However, Kinski's manic performance overwhelms the visuals as his intensity reaches even new heights. Do not be fooled by the tagline, "The slaves will sell their masters and grow wings...," because this film is not that poetic. This is as bleak as Herzog has ever gotten in one of his films. It sure would be fascinating to get a commentary track on "Cobra Verde" or any other Herzog film, but I imagine that is too much to hope for in the future. Final warning: If you have not seen a Herzog-Kinski film, this is not the place to start. You will be better served checking out more traditional fare such as "Aguirre, The Warth of God" or "Fitzcarraldo" before passing go and taking on "Cobra Verde."
Rating:
Summary: Herzog and Kinski team-up for their last film together
Review: This 1988 film was the last of the legendary, combative collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski. "Cobra Verde" is based on Bruce Chatwin's novel "The Victory of Ouidah." Kinski plays Francisco Manoel da Silva, a farmer in 19th-century Brazil who becomes a bandit and ends up being exiled to West Africa in order to revive the slave trade. Herzog is covering familiar ground with the outcast once again overwhelmed by a foreign environment. Visually we are offered the spectacle of the grandeur of an untamed world in which man is but an uninvited guest. However, Kinski's manic performance overwhelms the visuals as his intensity reaches even new heights. Do not be fooled by the tagline, "The slaves will sell their masters and grow wings...," because this film is not that poetic. This is as bleak as Herzog has ever gotten in one of his films. It sure would be fascinating to get a commentary track on "Cobra Verde" or any other Herzog film, but I imagine that is too much to hope for in the future. Final warning: If you have not seen a Herzog-Kinski film, this is not the place to start. You will be better served checking out more traditional fare such as "Aguirre, The Warth of God" or "Fitzcarraldo" before passing go and taking on "Cobra Verde."
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