Huie's Predigt

Pretty much the title tells it all, its a sermon by a pastor in a church in a run down part of Brooklyn. The Camera pretty much focuses squarely on the man as he says his piece. It begins slowly and then slowly builds. Statically filmed, the camera simply watches the Reverend and never moves, this is the film equivalent of being in the church. It's a bit awkward at first since not a great deal happens but as time goes on and the emotion begins to build it becomes something to see. One is drawn into the film quite easily. No tricks, no games, no real cutaways, just the man doing what he does. More footnote then a meal this is am intriguing look at something many people don't experience. Definitely worth a look, though I would either watch this on its own or at the start of a program of Herzog's short films because odds are anything seen before this will make it tough to get through due to the static nature of the camera work and the slow building of the emotion.

Huie's Sermon is one of the films from Werner Herzog which is ostensibly a documentary but not in a traditional sense, like the earlier How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976) the idea of this film is simply to watch events with no editorial opinion offered. I guess the idea being that what is filmed speaks for itself. In this instance, the subject is the Reverend Huie L. Rogers, or more specifically one of his sermons. It begins quite unremarkably but slowly builds a momentum and rhythm that it becomes a performance piece. The presentation was so rhythmical and emotional that I soon was caught up so much in its sound and feel that I stopped paying any attention to its content. It incorporated music accompaniment and really had the feel of intense soul music quite often. It was quite a show but it was tiring to watch, never mind what it must have been to deliver. The film-making here is resolutely lo-fi with a single camera simply pointing at the reverend in an unbroken single shot for the most part. The main alternatives to this were some tracking shots of the run-down Brooklyn neighbourhood in which the church's congregation came from. These badly deprived streets were an interesting counterpoint to the wild passion of the church; it showed that it's often people with the least advantages who create the most joy. Overall, a fascinating, if limited film.

James Brown eat your heart out

'Huies Predigt' (Huie's Sermon) was made the same year that John Landis released 'The Blues Brothers'. I would love to know if one of these productions had any influences on the other... maybe it's just a happy coincidence.

Reverend Huie is the real life Cleophus James (played by James Brown in 'The Blues Brothers'. This short lasts for the entire length of the reverend's sermon, filmed in front of a live congregation in the reverends hometown of Brooklyn. This really is documentary in its rawest form... as the single camera shot tracks the manic reverend from a safe distance for the entire length of his sermon. As Huie escalates into an ever increasing incomprehensible frenzy, I couldn't help but wonder how it was all going to end.

Apart from a few establishing and end shots the entire documentary is spent tracking the reverend in a couple of single shot takes. In the middle of the sermon Herzog cuts to a few shots of the run down Brooklyn streets and derelict buildings that contain the home's of Huie's all black congregation (giving Herzog time to reload his single camera).

I was lucky enough to see this and two other documentaries projected in one session. This was the last short shown, and by this point several members of the audience got up and left mid way through before the sermon had ended. I would recommend sticking this out, as although difficult to make out at points, the sermon is quite fascinating and Huie's views worth hearing. This is definitely preaching old school style. The reverend discusses the problems on the street that Herzog has shown us, but also attacks topics as far ranging as energy saving devices to sex change operations.

BTW, look out for the disciples on hand throughout the sermon at stage side, equipped with towels to help mop the reverend down.

Huie's Sermon (1980)

*** (out of 4) Herzog documentary about Reverend Huie (played by James Brown in The Blues Brothers), a loud, screaming, drooling preacher who brings soul to the Bible. This is a rather strange documentary because there's really nothing being told by the director. The camera just rolls as this guy preaches and he does a great job and keeps this thing entertaining but I'm really not sure what Herzog was trying to do other than film something.

You can buy this film from Herzog's website. Also there you will find many other Herzog films, some of which aren't available anywhere else.