"I sense a structure inside my heart, but it's not the same as yours" ~ Director Werner Herzog on Fata Morgana
One should not enter into the world presented by Fata Morgana without some sense of what to expect. However, beyond stating that this is a film by Werner Herzog, it is almost impossible to discuss the film using categories that are typically applied in discussions of film. Some say that this is the masterpiece of Herzog's early films. I can agree with this but only for two implicitly connected reasons. The first reason is my love for Herzog and his art. The second is that this is easily the most HERZOG film of his early films. Herzog himself has said that the film makes sense and has coherence only if you forget about logic and anything academic that you may have learned about film.
So let's discuss the narratives. There is no real story unless you interpret the film as an impressionistic telling of the Popul Vuh (one of the few surviving Mayan origin myths), which is updated into the modern age in three parts. The narrative starts with numerous very beautiful and entrancing images of barren, alien-looking landscapes and extremely illusory and vivid mirages. It then becomes increasingly concerned with people and built environments as we move from the amorphous, sensual and primordial world of the creation into the allegedly civilized, and clearly ridiculous, "Golden Age" presumably something like what we have today. Some people see this transition as irony, cynicism, darkness, etc. While it is important that each viewer intepret the film in their own way, i can see nothing in Herzog that is not pure celebrative and eye-opening exuberance concerning a full range of experience - death, love, myth, beauty and all of the illusions that drive so much of human life. There are numerous other narratives that can be found upon repeated examinations of the film, especially if you review the Herzog collection's version with Herzog's deeply personal, journalistic commentary.
Now, on to the film itself. Like many of Herzog's film, Fata Morgana is breathtakingly beautiful,. Like almost all of Herzog's films, Fata Morgana expresses something about Herzog's view of life, of people and of the earth - all of which are subjects that Herzog loves very deeply. Herzog shot the film in some of the most extraterrestrial landscapes on earth, with his very unique sense of the surreality of everyday life, and, as usual, no special effects whatsoever. The film utilizes illusion and mesmerizing images and sound to loosen the viewer's interest in narrative itself and then proceeds to deconstruct narratives explicitly while showing the utter lunacy of more familiar imagery. The film's soundtrack also defies even Herzog's own tendencies and the trope of avant garde cinema, juxtaposing opera, Asian folk music and (of all things) Leonard Cohen.
This film is a must-see for Herzog fans and those interested in history of film as a pure art form all its own. The film is much more subtle than Koyaanisqatsi and its sequels, but these later films clearly owe Fata Morgana an enormous debt.
One should not enter into the world presented by Fata Morgana without some sense of what to expect. However, beyond stating that this is a film by Werner Herzog, it is almost impossible to discuss the film using categories that are typically applied in discussions of film. Some say that this is the masterpiece of Herzog's early films. I can agree with this but only for two implicitly connected reasons. The first reason is my love for Herzog and his art. The second is that this is easily the most HERZOG film of his early films. Herzog himself has said that the film makes sense and has coherence only if you forget about logic and anything academic that you may have learned about film.
So let's discuss the narratives. There is no real story unless you interpret the film as an impressionistic telling of the Popul Vuh (one of the few surviving Mayan origin myths), which is updated into the modern age in three parts. The narrative starts with numerous very beautiful and entrancing images of barren, alien-looking landscapes and extremely illusory and vivid mirages. It then becomes increasingly concerned with people and built environments as we move from the amorphous, sensual and primordial world of the creation into the allegedly civilized, and clearly ridiculous, "Golden Age" presumably something like what we have today. Some people see this transition as irony, cynicism, darkness, etc. While it is important that each viewer intepret the film in their own way, i can see nothing in Herzog that is not pure celebrative and eye-opening exuberance concerning a full range of experience - death, love, myth, beauty and all of the illusions that drive so much of human life. There are numerous other narratives that can be found upon repeated examinations of the film, especially if you review the Herzog collection's version with Herzog's deeply personal, journalistic commentary.
Now, on to the film itself. Like many of Herzog's film, Fata Morgana is breathtakingly beautiful,. Like almost all of Herzog's films, Fata Morgana expresses something about Herzog's view of life, of people and of the earth - all of which are subjects that Herzog loves very deeply. Herzog shot the film in some of the most extraterrestrial landscapes on earth, with his very unique sense of the surreality of everyday life, and, as usual, no special effects whatsoever. The film utilizes illusion and mesmerizing images and sound to loosen the viewer's interest in narrative itself and then proceeds to deconstruct narratives explicitly while showing the utter lunacy of more familiar imagery. The film's soundtrack also defies even Herzog's own tendencies and the trope of avant garde cinema, juxtaposing opera, Asian folk music and (of all things) Leonard Cohen.
This film is a must-see for Herzog fans and those interested in history of film as a pure art form all its own. The film is much more subtle than Koyaanisqatsi and its sequels, but these later films clearly owe Fata Morgana an enormous debt.