Cheap Lessons of Darkness / Fata Morgana (DVD) (Werner Herzog) Price

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Customer Reviews of Lessons of Darkness / Fata Morgana

A visually stunning Herzog documentary worth preordering.
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!

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Darkness indeed
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.

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Masterpiece
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 johnwood@umich.edu