Werner
Herzog: The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner, How Much Wood Would a
Woodchuck Chuck, La Soufriere (New Yorker)
Picture: Sound: Extras: Film:
The Great Ecstasy… C C D B+
Woodchuck… C
C D B+
La Soufriere C
C D A-
Director Werner Herzog is a filmmaker that in my opinion
most people give up too early on. While
some of his films have been a mixed bag, he certainly has the talent to deliver
some surprising results for those willing to endure his pace. Not only that, but most people have a hard
time finding out where to begin when it comes to his work. For most directors there is always that ONE
film that is sort of the "north star" that people begin with and then
venture into the directors other works.
Examples of this might include Fellini’s La Dolce Vita or
Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Herzog
just doesn’t have that one particular film that most people cling to, perhaps Aguirre:
The Wrath of God, since it’s commonly his most popular, but that’s not
necessarily a good starting point since it doesn’t summarize the filmmaker all
that well.
I have over the past few years had the ability to sit
through a number of Herzog films that are somewhat less popular or harder to
find. Those titles range from Signs
of Life to The Land of Silence and Darkness, both of which are
reviewed elsewhere on this site. That
brings me to the subject of this review, which is a DVD released by New Yorker
containing three of Herzog’s film from roughly the same point in time. All three films were shot in the
neighborhood of 1975-1977. The
interesting thing about these three pieces is that if you are ready to jump in
and get familiar with a filmmaker like Herzog this could arguably be a great
place to begin. The reason? Well, first you can tackle three of his
films on one DVD, but also it’s in my opinion that these three are able to give
a great accurate portray of the caliber filmmaker that Herzog is and also in
three very unique ways.
The first film is called The Great Ecstasy of the
Sculptor Steiner, which despite having a lengthy title, is quite
interesting and deliberate. This
documentary’s subject is Walter Steiner, a Swiss woodcarver and champion ski
jumper. With this particular film you
immediately gain a sense of the passion that Herzog has not only for his
content, but for the people involved and the subject at hand. He allows us to experience in this case a
man who is determined to let his creativity have very little limit. While the program is short (45-minutes)
Herzog captures some incredible content and jam-packs it together in a very
coherent and exciting way.
Next we have How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck,
which I am sure most people would love to know the answer to that universal
question. However, this is set in an
Amish region of good ole’ Pennsylvania (my native land) and explores or rather
chronicles the spectacle that is known as ‘auctioneering’. We know the stereotypes and this goes toe to
toe with the background behind bidding, secret signals, etc that is involved in
this bizarre tradition. This enables us
to experience the ways in which Herzog takes the little details of life and
makes them into fascinating subjects.
Finally there is La Soufriere, which is probably
the best film assembled here and demonstrates the impulse of director Werner
Herzog unlike anything else. Back in
1976 there was a volcano that was suppose to erupt, which would cause for pure
devastation wiping out Guadeloupe entirely, but one man decided to stay despite
everyone else evacuating. Well, that
one man became the subject as Herzog and crew show up and capture one man
starring disaster square in the face and saying, “I’m not budging for
you!” This is just a purely
entertaining and poignant film not to be missed!
All three films are about even keel in terms of quality
with all three films presented in their original full-frame aspect ratio. They all seem to have minor picture problems
with softness and semi-poor color reproduction occurring from time to
time. Although these are lower grade
documentaries so that type of texture is far more passable in this particular
case. The 2.0 Dolby mix is average, but
works for this type of program and gets the job done.
I am continually amazed at some of the lost gems of a
director who continues to make film year after year and always finds the
strange occurrences in life. His more
recent film The Grizzly Man is also a real treat and is a must-see along
with this terrific DVD!
- Nate Goss
