SUBMISSION: (Thomas von Steinaecker) Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The Legend that is Werner Herzog; it's all here. For Herzog "diehards" there is probably nothing new revealed in RADICAL DREAMER. But I feel sure that the 100mins they spend, mainly in the care of the man himself, will be an hour and twenty minutes well spent.
The true value of Thomas von Steinaecker's thorough feature documentary is the ease with which he has Werner on-side. The true test of a biographical documentary of this nature is the depth of investment by its subject. Herzog is at total ease with Steinaecker's camera. So while each phase of our subject's filmography is recalled, Werner gently relays his intimate recollections, with detail and clarity. The thing about those special moments on camera is, he is often on the location where the events took place. A ski-field above Munich is the base for multiple stories. It's where he spent some of his childhood in the care of a single, penniless mother.
We get a sense of the mind of a master as he describes insects and butterflies filling his head when he drives for extended periods of time. He describes these events as he sits behind the wheel, moving along the streets of his native LA. His self imposed exile from his native Germany to the U.S. makes interesting fodder in his story.
Yes, I was engrossed with RD. Revolutionary, New Age or Radical could all be used to describe this gentle, single-minded artist. Which for me begged the question, how did a man of such temperament continue to collaborate with the volatile actor, Kinski? Films, the likes of AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD and STROSZEK are classics, but to view Kinski in all his "disruptive beauty", as this documentary does, which begs my initial question. It was all a part of what made Herzog tick. He loved to be challenged and he was never fazed by taking risks.
For me, an insight into a film maker I've admired from afar, was as nourishing as the films of his I've so enjoyed. 10GUMS.
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