Lessons of Darkness / Fata Morgana

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Both films are brilliant, and the appearance of Fata Morgana will be a great relief to Herzog fans who have waited so long to be able to see it again. But it is Lessons of Darkness that is the real epiphany. A haunting, gorgeous, almost perfect film that is deeply moving and deeply inscrutable at the same time. Few films present you with images of such awe-inspiring horror on such a large scale. While it is earth that is hurt here, one cannot help but see this film as an elegy for man. Together with "My Best Fiend," this is Herzog at his most penetrating, deeply insightful best. Nothing else even comes close. The DVD is wonderfully executed, too.

Rating:
Summary: A Haunting and Hypnotic Masterpiece
Review: Fata Morgana is an absolute masterpiece. It's Werner Herzog's most unconventional film and the most bizzare film I've ever seen. It doesn't have a plot or story. Instead, we're presented with a brilliant collection of images, words and music woven together by a master filmmaker. Fata Morgana is not a documentary either. Most of the people in this film are directed and given lines to read. It has some of the most beautiful and haunting images ever commited to film. Herzog photographs actual mirages and we see cars and people floating around in the middle of the desert who aren't actually there but hundreds of miles away reflected due to the heated strata of air. All of the tracking shots were done with a camera mounted on top of a VW van that Werner Herzog drove himself. The use of music in this movie is amazing; from Leonard Cohen, Mozart, Blind Faith and the Third Ear Band. Imagine Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey taking place in the desert instead of outerspace. Fata Morgana is so hypnotic that it has the ability to make you feel as though your spirit has left your body. This film is a must see and is not recommended for conformists who've been forced fed a steady diet of Hollywood-commercial fast food movies. It will change the way you view films. Rating: 10 out of 10.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Ive been waiting over 20 years to see
Fata Morgana,one of the few Herzog features ive
not seen,strange journey through many North
African locations.
somwhat suprised that there is no
(from what i can tell) Popol Vuh music.there is a track however from the
incomprable Third Ear Band.
the chilling Lessons Of Darkness
is also essential!
A Must!

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: No aspect of Lessons of Darkness can be praised too highly. What I'd like to know is, how can I find out the artists who performed the various musical works? Herzog has chosen the most sublime renditions of his sublime selection: Verdi's "Recordare" from the Requiem, and similarly the best of Strauss, Wagner and so on. I'd like to gt the same recordings. Any help? Thanks in advance: send to [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Darkness indeed
Review: This is a sad and eerie film, in some ways similar to those of Godfrey Reggio. Werner Herzog and a camera crew toured Kuwait and environs in the wake of the Gulf War and documented the destruction (both physical and human) wrought by Saddam Hussain's armies in the oil fields and by the bombing of strategic targets. But instead of presenting a straightforward story about a historical event, Herzog created a science-fiction parable. The entire movie has a strange, detached tone; we see horrendous destruction, rooms full of torture equipment, and victims of brutality, but there are no cinematic clues about how the 'aliens' who supposedly made this movie feel about these things; their attitude is implied rather than stated. There is no need to play up the events; seeing them is enough.

"Fata Morgana" is similar in some ways, but it is more disconnected and humorous, portraying another trip-- this time through northern Africa. And, like "Lessons of Darkness", it manages to portray Earth as a particularly weird planet. An especially interesting point is Herzog's commentary about the mirages that he filmed; we can see that there is a bus (for example) in the distance, but Herzog tells us that when they went to the place where the bus should have been, they could see that there was nothing for miles around... "Fata Morgana" is not as cohesive as "Lessons of Darkness", but its tone is much lighter.

Rating:
Summary: A visually stunning Herzog documentary worth preordering.
Review: While I cannot comment on this particular DVD issue, I have seen a PAL video of "Lessons of Darkness" and cannot express how thrilled I was to see that Anchor Bay had scheduled this film for release. In addition, they have included an extremely rare, full length documentary, "Fata Morgana," which I have never successfully been able to track down on video (as if Lessons of Darkness alone were not sufficient incentive to order this DVD). Given the high quality of the video and audio transfers for the other Herzog films in Anchor Bay's catalogue, I have little doubt that this DVD issue, which like the other Herzog issues includes audio commentary, will be nothing short of outstanding. Now if only the catalogue of Fassbinder, Godard, or Resnais films on DVD were equally exhaustive.

Lessons of Darkness is a haunting account of the burning of the Kuwaiti oil fields in the aftermath of the Gulf war, and, with the exception of a few engaging interviews with local village dwellers, is told almost exclusively through images, set to the music of Mahler, Arvo Part, and Strauss. This is perhaps Herzog's most absorbing film visually, and, with due respect to "God's Angry Man" and "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," the latter also being released by Anchor Bay, "Lessons of Darkness" is perhaps the director's most compelling documentary. Moreover, the images of the firefighers struggling to put out the infernal flames rising out of the oil fields are all the more timely and moving given recent events. Highly Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A visually stunning Herzog documentary worth preordering.
Review: While I cannot comment on this particular DVD issue, I have seen a PAL video of "Lessons of Darkness" and cannot express how thrilled I was to see that Anchor Bay had scheduled this film for release. In addition, they have included an extremely rare, full length documentary, "Fata Morgana," which I have never successfully been able to track down on video (as if Lessons of Darkness alone were not sufficient incentive to order this DVD). Given the high quality of the video and audio transfers for the other Herzog films in Anchor Bay's catalogue, I have little doubt that this DVD issue, which like the other Herzog issues includes audio commentary, will be nothing short of outstanding. Now if only the catalogue of Fassbinder, Godard, or Resnais films on DVD were equally exhaustive.

Lessons of Darkness is a haunting account of the burning of the Kuwaiti oil fields in the aftermath of the Gulf war, and, with the exception of a few engaging interviews with local village dwellers, is told almost exclusively through images, set to the music of Mahler, Arvo Part, and Strauss. This is perhaps Herzog's most absorbing film visually, and, with due respect to "God's Angry Man" and "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," the latter also being released by Anchor Bay, "Lessons of Darkness" is perhaps the director's most compelling documentary. Moreover, the images of the firefighers struggling to put out the infernal flames rising out of the oil fields are all the more timely and moving given recent events. Highly Recommended!