Herzog Lowers the Boom

Just two things today, the second one being what goosed me into doing this post. 

First: I’ve legally moved my act to South Dakota, right? You know this, I think. Several reasons for doing this, one being that it may someday (soon) be important what state you reside in, i.e., there may be a division of power coming and being legally from a blue state may be very iffy, say, like New York; California being the other scary example, especially with the recall ‘failure’ (scare here meaning we don’t know if the vote tally was straight up).

So I want to have a doctor here. I make an appointment, go and of course grill the doctor on covid. That he was wearing a mask (not even an N90, btw) was a bad sign. I’d been forced to don one at the desk and to my relief no one said anything when I took it off.

The Doc was unaware of the (peer reviewed) studies showing that masks are not only useless but harmful to the wearer. I told him he was now breathing more CO2 than OSHA legally allows for the work place. This had no effect. (I could only see his eyes so reactions were hard to judge.) I thought about all the carbon dioxide in his bloodstream and wondered if he was presently a competent medical doctor. 

I went through as much covid info as I could fit into two or three minutes, stuff you know from this blog, plus elsewhere, plus common sense. When he asked me how I figured covid was spread, I told him it doesn’t matter what I think; the point is Has science tried to find out how it’s spread, and have you read any studies that demonstrate it’s contagious person to person. He of course had no response. 

I said, ‘Would it have any effect on you if I could show you that the 1918 Spanish Flu was not contagious person to person? (You all of course know about the study proving it is not.) Here is is answer, and his eyes widened for extra pizzaz:

‘None whatsoever!’ The raised voice, the wide eyes, the whatsoever… you get the idea. 

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The other thing, the second thing… Werner Herzog. 

Up until a few minutes ago I had mixed feelings about the guy, his films mainly, but also about Herzog the human. I wondered and had doubts about whether he is sort of person I could get along with on a personal level. Aside from his work, which I’ll get to, there is something about him, and it’s partially in his eyes, that concerns me. The subtle feeling that even with all his talent and energy and insight, he may not be capable of real critical thinking. The ‘follow the evidence’ instinct that is so important in understanding HTWRW. Until a few minutes ago, Herzog has never expressed himself in a way that would normally worry me. 

I just cannot, for any length of time, be around people like, say, my doctor. You guys know this. So I have always wondered about Herzog, how it would go if we sat down for a talk. I wondered what he would think of my interview with famous photog Walter Iooss, which I’ve talked about before, and which has been censored from YT for being ‘hate speech.’

I’m about halfway through a book I bought because I need to know about Herzog, whether my doubts about him and his work are well founded. Werner Herzog, A Guide for the Perplexed is an expansion of a previous book, Herzog on Herzog; it’s a sort of mammoth interview, with Herzog going on and on in response to a query… like… Why is forgery a useful skill for a film director? Herzog’s answers ramble all over the place and are mostly amusing and/or instructive — Herzog obviously revels in his criminality — although what I mostly took away is that Herzog thinks a whole lot of himself. Fine. Sort of.

Sometimes all one needs to figure a person out is one sentence and such is the case with Herzog and his book on Herzog. (Truly, I had bought the book hoping for some sort of an epiphany.)

I’m reading along and suddenly and completely, a few minutes ago, Herzog lowered the boom, exposed himself for what he is. It’s on (page 236), and the context is Herzog explaining that in his film school (aptly titled, ‘Rogue Film School’), the students do not view films (Herzog is pretty much uninterested in other directors’ films) but rather are recommended certain books to read. (That they don’t view films is a bad sign, in my view, in terms of what sort of person Herzog is, although it would take a while to explain.) Here we go (a real doozy):

‘I recommend The Warren Commission Report, the official government account of President Kennedy’s assassination, an extraordinary crime story with tremendous narrative power and phenomenal, conclusive logic, one of those books that make you rush back home just so you can continue reading.’

I know what some of you may be thinking, given the over-the-top… bizarrity… of Herzog’s ramble. Here’s the thing: Herzog himself admits this and his friends and colleagues all agree: 

Herzog is incapable of irony.

Yes, one wonders how… an artist… and for better or worse, Herzog is an artist… could be incapable of irony. But there you have it.

So Herzog is dead serious in his unequivocal rave review of The Warren Report. He was not being ironic.

…an extraordinary crime story with tremendous narrative power and phenomenal, conclusive logic… phenomenal, conclusive logic… 

I have fifteen of Herzog’s films on DVD, which I bought so I can re-watch them whenever I please, without internet. (I don’t have any other filmmaker’s works in DVD, not as an archive to study.) I’ve given them all a good look, plus many others via the Net. 

Until reading the above sentence, I’ve been unable to really judge Herzog’s filmography as a whole. Some of his films just plain suck. The ‘good’ ones are notable because I have not been able to figure them out. 

Addendum: Significantly, in the book I’m reading there is no reference to Queen of the Desert, a straight narrative film (with Nicole Kidman, no less), Herzog’s only one, really, and which I find very important in judging Herzog’s ‘talent’. See, it’s really well written/directed (Herzog did both). Give it a look; it’s really a good movie.

Compare Queen to David Lynch’s version of Dune, which is one of those rare ones (Plan Nine From Outer Space comes to mind, of course) that’s so fucking bad it becomes fascinating. This was Lynch’s foray into straight narrative storytelling and it says a lot about his ‘talent.’ (Lynch and Herzog are two ‘rogue’ filmmakers of note.)

All this reminds me of my attitude toward Modern Art. If the ‘artist’ has not done… cannot do… representational art, then odds are there is no actual talent there. Picasso, it’s been said, was capable of great representation art. Jackson Pollack, say, not so much. Point being that you should not break the rules until you’ve mastered them.

Point also being that I’m now even more confused, not less, regarding Herzog as a filmmaker/artist.  

Is someone who is incapable of irony, and who is capable of the above thoughts on The Warren Report — proving beyond any doubt that he has not a clue about HTWRW — capable of real art? 

I’m not sure which answer, yes or no, is the more distressing.

Allan

If anyone has strong feelings about Herzog or his work, let fly.

Oh, I forgot. Here’s some more photos from my old days of film. Fuji Velvia 50 and Kodachrome 64. Please click the link so I know how many are paying attention today. It has 63 views right now. I’ll do the math.

And one more photo, that I just took. Today.