Beauty, brutality, and insanity are the best words to describe legendary German director Werner Herzog‘s body of work. These are the films Hollywood wouldn’t be able to make even if they dared.
Many of the entries on this list deal with collaborations between Herzog and the infamous German actor Klaus Kinski. Kinski’s personal life was horrific and included the abuse of many of his family members. His mental state was often unstable, and he would regularly turn violent on set. However, the screenwork these two men produced offers some of the finest films ever made in European cinema.
10. Rescue Dawn (2006)
The first Herzog epic on this list is easily the most conventional (by Werner Herzog’s standards, that is). It follows the real-life story of Vietnam War pilot Dieter Dengler, who was shot down and captured by the Vietcong in 1966. A moving intensely shot epic of survival and the triumph of the human spirit, Rescue Dawn is easily the most accessible Herzog movie on this list. It also features Christian Bale in one of the stand-out performances of his career.
9. Stroszeck (1977)
Herzog collaborated more than once with the troubled but brilliant German actor Bruno S., a man whose real-life story is far stranger than fiction. In Stroszeck, Bruno plays an alcoholic Berliner who teams up with his girlfriend and an eccentric old neighbor to live out their collective dream of moving to America and starting a new life.
Naturally, things don’t go to plan, and Herzog brilliantly captures the tragic plot in this hilarious but ultimately heartbreaking film.
8. Signs of Life (1968)
An essential inspiration for Stephen King, when he wrote The Shining, Signs of Life is one of Herzog’s early works and follows the story of a wounded German paratrooper sent with two other soldiers and his Greek wife to guard an ammunition depot on a small island.
Isolation in the burning heat quickly turns to insanity, and the soldier threatens to use the explosives at the depot to blow up the local village.
Signs of Life is a slow-moving, psychological war epic that builds to an inescapable conclusion. It features the lingering, striking cinematography that the director is best known for.
7. Cobra Verde (1987)
Set in the 1800s, a Portuguese bandit recently released from prison is hired by a Brazilian plantation owner to travel to Africa and restart the slave trade. During his time fighting and dealing in human cargo, he loses his grip on sanity.
Cobra Verde (played by Klaus Kinski) is a disturbing character, to say the least. His real name is Francisco Manoel da Silva, and he is a man who thinks nothing of exploiting others for personal gain. Herzog does a fine job of not presenting anyone in a heroic light. The brutal realities of slave trading and the suffocating heat strip away any humanity the characters may have had, turning them into little better than animals. Cobra Verde highlights the darker side of the human condition. The characters are realistic, the attitudes brutal, and the experience of witnessing horrible people come to terms with their own miserable existence leaves the viewer feeling numb.
6. Heart of Glass (1976)
Who else but Werner Herzog would shoot a film where all the actors are under hypnosis? A German folk-tale is brought to startling unreality by Herzog. When the foreman of a small village glassworks dies without revealing the secret of his famous ruby glass, the whole town descends into depression.
Watching Heart of Glass is like being inside a dream. Just like a dream, it is sometimes difficult to follow exactly what is going on in the story, and there are unusual changes in scenes and pacing that leave one disorientated.
If you are new to Herzog, you probably shouldn’t start with this one. There is very little in the way of plot and some of the scenes can be agonizingly slow for the uninitiated. But beautiful cinematography and some stunning, low-key performances make this worthy of number six.
5. Woyzeck (1979)
Another Herzog team-up with Klaus Kinski sees the actor take on the role of Woyzeck, a suffering soldier stationed in a German town. Woyzeck is assaulted from all levels of society. His captain treats him like a joke. The local doctor performs cruel experiments on him. And his wife is having multiple affairs. The film highlights how absurd militarism is. Woyzeck is a fit man with a rifle but is utterly powerless, having absolutely no control over his own life.
Frustrated beyond reason, this 80-minute mini-epic rockets along and leaves the viewer flinching with almost every passing second, just waiting for Woyzeck to snap. And snap he most certainly does…
To get a more realistic performance during a scene where Woyzeck is being physically tormented, Kinski demanded that he be kicked and beaten for real. Talk about method acting.
4. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Herzog must have been a glutton for punishment because he made two films with Kinski in just one year. Nosferatu sees Kinski take on the bloodthirsty yet tragic role of Count Dracula as he sinks his teeth into a variety of pliant victims.
Bravely deciding to remake a classic (the original Nosferatu came out in 1922), Herzog surpasses the original, and the decision to cast Kinski as Dracula proves a brilliant one. Isabelle Adjani provides excellent support as Lucy Harker, and the film even features the legendary Bruno Ganz (of Downfall fame) as Jonathan.
Like with all Herzog films, it is the cinematography that stands out — Nosferatu uses light and shadow to incredible effect, creating a truly terrifying atmosphere. Kinski also relishes the role of Nosferatu in a quieter, more constrained performance than usual.
3. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
The first time Herzog worked with Bruno S. was for The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. A young man suddenly appears out of nowhere in 1828 Nuremberg. He is barely able to walk and talk, and claims he has lived in a one-room dungeon his entire life. Kaspar is taken in by a benefactor who attempts to integrate him into modern German society.
Like the later Stroszeck, this is another Herzog comedy-drama that highlights how crazy and mixed-up our world really is. Kaspar has had no knowledge of anything outside his dungeon, and when suddenly confronted with the outside, he finds he cannot understand why things are the way they are. His blunt yet brilliant way of thinking quickly antagonizes a society unwilling to accept his unique brand of truth.
A great film, and easily the funniest Herog ever made, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is yet another example of why he remains one of the greatest directors of all time.
2. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The making of Fitzcarraldo is an epic in itself. In order to recreate the true story of Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald’s quest to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle, Herzog and his crew literally dragged a 340-ton steamship up a mountainside. When star Jason Robards had to pull out of filming early on, Herzog was forced to hire Klaus Kinski to play the lead role of Fitzcarraldo.
Little more needs to be said about the film, except that you should watch it.
The shoot was horrendous and several people were injured on set. Kinski was rude to most members of the crew and was given to violent outbursts that disturbed the Native Americans Herzog hired as extras. At one point, the chief of the Machiguenga tribe came to Herzog one night and offered to murder Kinski for him. He quickly turned the offer down.
The mutual hatred between the Native Americans and Kinski comes across so brilliantly on screen because no one is acting.
Seriously, go watch Fitzcarraldo.
1. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
The year is 1560. A pack of ruthless conquistadores descend into the Amazon, hell-bent on profit, plunder, and enslaving any natives they happen to come across. They have heard legends of fabulous golden cities hidden somewhere in the jungle, and it is the allure of gold – gold above all else – that is driving every one of them on. They struggle down perilous mountain passes, drink rat-infested water, and are daily eaten alive by swarms of mosquitoes. Food is rare, and when they do find some, it is never enough. Native American tribesmen track their every move, waiting for the invaders to weaken to the point where they can attack.
Into this nightmare steps Don Lope de Aguirre, a megalomaniac conquistador who is plotting to kill his commanding officers. Through betrayal, Aguirre eventually strikes out to achieve “glory.” As his decaying raft and dwindling band of followers float aimlessly down an endless river, he is deluded to the point where he believes everything he passes instantly becomes his land.
The filming of this 1972 epic is worth a full documentary in itself. True to form, Kinski was almost deranged in his methods, arguing with everybody over everything. Most of this bile was reserved for director Werner Herzog.
Herzog had a unique method of dealing with his lead actor’s mania — he would work Kinski into a rage, to the point where he was smashing the set and screaming inches from his face. Only when Kinski calmed down would Herzog let the cameras roll. This gave the character of Aguirre an otherworldly quality that was infinitely more unsettling than a simple raving madman.
At one point during the grueling shoot, Kinski threatened to abandon the film. Herzog replied that if that happened, he would take a rifle, track Kinski downriver, and “put eight bullets in your head and the ninth in mine.”
Kinski decided to stay.
The result is a true masterpiece of cinema that has to be seen to be believed. It really is the raft journey from hell — an unforgettable viewing experience.
