Woyzeck

I will put the bottom line at the top so you can decide whether to bother reading on (and seeing this film).

This is certainly not a film for everybody. If you find the following review annoying, and you feel as if you wasted time reading it - BY ALL MEANS - avoid seeing this film, you simply won't enjoy it.

Another Herzog-Kinski masterwork, Woyzeck is one of the weirdest films of the 1970s. I do not use the word "weird" very often, but it is so appropriate for this film that an endless string of adjectives, adverbs and modifiers I would need to replace it seem thoroughly inadequate. Despite the vast and deep power and beauty of this film, I don't want to label it "good". Unlike some of the less surreal Herzog-Kinski collaborations, the amount of attention you pay to this film does not necessarily correspond to the amount of sense you will be able to make of it. Mostly, I think it's a film about psychosis - both personal psychosis (Woyzeck himself) and social psychosis (Woyzeck's miserable treatment at the hands of virtually everybody around him in his back-water town in Nazi occupied Poland).

For the first half of the film you will feel as if you are playing a VERY serious version of Monty Python's "Spot the Loonie." But, in this case, you are looking for the HEAD LOONIE in a whole melange of maniacs. The string of soliloquies which eventually leads to the climactic ending, hearkens back to Shakespearean tragedies, but until the very end, you don't necessarily know whether to think of this film as a comedy or the very dark and sinister tragedy that it seems to be. Even after the film exposes itself so dramatically in the end, I am still inclined to see it as a very deranged bit of comedy as much as anything else. Such is the beauty of Herzog's artistic method - nothing is straightforward, much is hideous and beautiful, and in a peculiar metaphysical and aesthetic sense, it all makes perfect sense.

Klaus Kinski gives a signature performance and the rest of the cast, though excellent, is barely noticeable with Kinski's intensity in the foreground. Though less accessible than many of Kinski's more popular works (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu), this is nevertheless a unique and brilliant blend of one of the greatest actor-director teams of all time.

Woyzeck is Werner Herzog's only ever adaptation of a stage play. There are always problems in the transition of a play from stage to screen. The theatre relies on the power of words and performances, whereas cinema is built more upon images and set pieces. Herzog, an unconventional yet adaptable director, handles the conversion well, giving it a cinematic presentation while still retaining the integrity of the source material.

Buchner's play is a strong story, albeit incredibly grim and depressing. Klaus Kinski, as the title character, is driven insane by military routine and scientific over-analysis, and apparently the role had an irreversible effect on the already psychologically unstable actor. It's typical Herzog material, looking at insanity, dehumanisation and people driven to extremes. Also, like his previous picture Nosferatu, it is another link between the German New Wave and the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s, as it shares that movement's obsessions with psychological analysis and social entrapment.

In filming Woyzeck, Herzog creates an unusual mixture of obviously real locations and rather static, theatrical direction, with few cuts or camera moves. In typical Herzog style there is an unnerving quietness and tranquillity. He isn't afraid to flaunt the advantages of the cinematic medium over the theatrical, with some beautiful landscape shots, and Kinski darting about in and out of close-up and stepping into shot from behind the camera – an effect impossible on the stage. The climactic murder scene is also very well done, and here the picture is at its most openly cinematic.

Kinski is clearly very deep in his performance, and its no wonder the material had such an impact on him. It's a pity, but he is ideal for the role. It's hard to imagine anyone else bringing that much intensity and realism to the part. Really, these collaborations between him and Herzog are the best examples of his unique acting talent because they were, as far as I know, the only opportunities he had to play lead roles. Also worth a mention here are the excellent supporting performances from Eva Mattes and Josef Bierbichler, European actors who deserve far more recognition.

Because of its theatrical origins Woyzeck is perhaps the one Herzog film in which the narrative takes precedence over the look of the thing. On the one hand, this is a good thing because it is much more focused and doesn't digress as his pictures tend to. But for me it also makes it a weaker entry in his filmography, because his films generally rely on their powerful imagery. Still, it is watchable, short and sweet, with some interesting moments.

Based on the play by Georg Buchner about Franz Woyzeck : Klaus Kinski as an unfortunate and hopeless soldier . Mired in the ranks of the Germany Army he finds alone and powerless against a ruthless society and a rigid military authority that exploits him , as well as being harassed by his superiors and tortured in bizarre scientific experiments . Tormented by rare visions and weird voices , betrayed by his wife : Eva Mattes , in public by the unbearable weight of social and sexual oppression , he is increasingly pushed to the edge .

Chilling and sad portrayal of a man plunging into insanity when he is assaulted from all sides by forces he can not control , being caught between the cruel command , poverty and his distant wife . Werner Herzog's film is based upon a prestigious play dealing with a very strange , mysterious and bizarre character , gradually devolving into maniac instinct . Not the same dizzy folly as Aguirre , but Herzog´s similarly long perspective conjures as a brooding and thought-provoking film of man's aimless tracks throughout an egoistic society and harsh vision of human suffering beyond despair , eventually cracking when he discovers his wife's infedility . Here there are echoes of prestigious authors as Shakespeare , Beltor Bretch , Samuel Beckett , among others . Klaus Kinski gives a portentous interpretation in the title role as the hapless soldier who snaps when he learns his wife is having an affair. Along with Eva Mattes who is pretty well too , as his unfaithful spouse .

The motion picture was competently directed by Werner Herzog, though some may find hard to take . This great German director Herzog has made several thoughtful , provoking and interesting films , such as : "Fata Morgana" , "Aguirre Wrath of God" , "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", "Heart of Glass" , "Stroszek", "Woyzeck" , "Nosferatu the Vampire", "Where the Green Ants Dream" , "Cobra Verde" ,"Lessons in Darkness", "My Dearest Enemy", "Invincible" , "The White Diamond", "Grizzly Man", "Rescue Dawn" , among others. Rating : 7/10 above average and irresistible movie thanks to Kiski's extraordinary performance . The flick will appeal to Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski followers.

Made the same year as the peerless 'Nosferatu the Vampyre', 'Woyzeck' again brings together the mighty partnership of Klaus Kinski and Director Werner Herzog. Whereas Kinski's portrayal of the vampire remains a highpoint of understated power, here his intensity hits overdrive and crosses the blurred line between insanity and over-acting.

The story is a deceptively simple one. Woyzeck is a soldier who is forced to take menial jobs and perform degrading experiments in order to feed his family. This leads to his mental breakdown, which results in a shocking act at the film's climax. As he loses his mind, you can believe in him totally, but that is partly because his frantic movements and extreme facial expressions indicate the grip of his senses is fragile to begin with. In true Herzog style, the film drinks up the main character's flaws and falls from (lowly) grace without spectacle or glamour.

Although the relationship between director and leading man was always fractious, co-star Eva Mattes as Marie has always spoken fondly of Kinski and their time working together.

The film is typically bleak but compelling. My score is 7 out of 10.

I seriously need to re-watch *all* of Herzog's films, but in the flicker of memory this is my favorite.

For me, the static camera-work fits the hothouse atmosphere of Buchner's play perfectly. I think especially of the early scene where Woyzeck is shaving the Captain, and the camera doesn't move *at all* for what seems like forever ... technically, it is reminiscent of some of Jim Jarmusch's early films where the camera is hilariously static. Here, it is horrifyingly static.

And Kinski has never been more possessed, more demonically almost out of control. I just can't watch him, particularly during the intense (slow motion!) climactic sequence, and then "come back" to Hollywood movies and watch ... well, say, Kevin Costner. Sorry. Guess I'm a snob.

Finally, the strange, sawing music just sends me over the top every time, my skin tingling. To me this is an absolutely unforgettable, brilliant film experience. It disturbs the living hell out of me, and I like that.