Rendez-vous avec Mikhaïl Gorbatchev

It was sad to see Gorbachev so old and incapable of producing anything but a few simplistic sentences on camera. It makes me wonder if that was even necessary to include any footage of an old sick man and whether it adds anything to the history-recap-101 genre to which this documentary gravitates.

In 90 minutes, It is impossible to present the political lay-of-the-land of the 1980s to establish context for this historical figure. The film intertwines history channel-like snippets of major historical events with trite commentaries of Gorbachev's contemporaries and Herzog himself.

Do we learn anything about Gorbachev beyond the wiki-level factoids? No. Does this film convey that there is another dimension to the person that it tries to explore? Absolutely not. If anything, people and events in this film are presented with almost distracting unidimensionality.

The main value of this film is probably limited to the nostalgic documentary footage that is sprinkled over the meaningless monologues and the lulling senile voice of Werner Herzog that creates an anticipation for something deeper than is being delivered on the screen.

Greetings again from the darkness. Werner Herzog has been one of the most prolific filmmakers over the past six decades, and with so many projects, it's not surprising that his films range from very good (AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD) to fascinating (GRIZZLY MAN) to disappointing (QUEEN OF THE DESERT). With this latest documentary, co-directed with Andre Singer, Herzog sits down for interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev three times over a six month period, and yet somehow squanders this rare opportunity by ensuring his own mug gets equal screen time, and his own voice even more.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the 8th and final President of the Soviet Union and is considered to be one of the most influential political figures of the second half of the twentieth century. He is now 87 years old, and his diabetes likely contributes to his puffy, bloated look and his recent hospital stay prior to his third interview with Herzog. The film walks us through a chronological look back at Gorbachev's life and his beginnings as the son of peasants. His father became a decorated war hero, and upon returning to his war-torn country, offered this to young Mikhail: "We fought until we ran out of fight. That's how you must live."

Having joined the Communist Party at an early age, Mikhail went on to study at the prestigious Moscow State University, which soon led him into politics. He was a fast riser and a true man of the people ... unusual for the Soviet Union. We see many interesting photos and clips, including video of a senile Leonid Brezhnev presenting Gorbachev with an award. The film breezes through the 3 year period which saw funerals for Brezhnev (1982) and his successors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. These deaths led to Gorbachev becoming the youngest leader in Soviet history as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Union.

Herzog as an interviewer spends entirely too much time on screen and narrating. We have come to hear what Gorbachev has to say, not take Herzog's word that he's authentic, or to waste time with the presentation of a box of sugar-free chocolate. It's a bit of a fluff piece, and Herzog is certainly no Mike Wallace; however, it is quite informative to go through the timeline of Gorbachev's life.

We are reminded of Gorbachev's reform platform that included Perestroika (re-structuring) and Glasnost (transparent government), and there are clips of Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, George Shultz and James Baker offering their insight into dealings with this most unusual Soviet leader. Gorbachev does offer his thoughts on the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the fall of the Iron Curtain, the tearing down of the wall and reunification. His historic "breakthrough" meeting and subsequent handshake with Ronald Reagan took place at Reykjavik, Iceland, in a building that is now a tourist attraction.

Ever the optimist, Gorbachev still firmly believes the world should be rid of nuclear weapons, and this segment provides some contemporary context as this topic has reared its head again in modern politics. He bluntly offers his take: "People who don't understand cooperation and disarmament should quit politics." He serves up a hot take on America after the Cold War ended, but is given little time to discuss Helmut Kohl and the 10 Points of Light. The 1991 coup where Boris Yeltsin seized the moment is clearly still painful for Gorbachev, and Herzog offers up a soft landing by ending the film with personal and legacy topics ... what he terms the tragedy of Gorbachev. The love of his life, his wife Raisa, is ever-present even after her death, and he understands that many consider him a traitor and responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. His idealism for a social democracy remains impressive and is likely the reason his story is more humanistic than political. Looking back, he simply states, "We tried."

I had the good fortune to see this engrossing documentary on the opening night of the 2019 Trieste Film Festival - and what an appropriate choice it was to begin the 30th edition of the festival (also the 30th anniversary year of the fall of the Berlin Wall). Ignore the short-sighted comments of the reviewer who laughably awarded this 1/10 (probably working on behalf of the wretched Putin, who could never measure up to the stature of a political titan such as Gorbachev). Naturally, being one man's account of the part he played in such a volatile era, it's bound to be subjective. However, Herzog attempts to place Gorbachev's recollections in context, using some rarely seen archive footage in the process. The way Gorbachev was elevated to the top of the Soviet Union is seen here in almost comical terms, as his three predecessors - relics of the old Communist Party - are despatched in quick succession to their resting place at the foot of the Kremlin Wall. The real emotion comes towards the end when we learn about the final days of Mikhail's beloved - and much-admired - wife, Raisa. It's a truly fascinating look at a remarkable time in world history, and seeing again some of the heavyweight political players of the past only goes to emphasise the paucity of great leaders the world is suffering at the moment. The 90 minutes of this film passed quickly - always a good sign.

"Meeting Gorbachev" (2018 release; 90 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last President of the Soviet Union. As the movie opens, Gorbachev receives the crew in his office, where he is presented with chocolate (without sugar due to his diabetes) for his 87th birthday. Herzog informs us that it is April, 2018, and it is his third and last interview of Gorbachev in a span of 6 months. We then go back in time, as Herzog looks at Gorbachev's upbringing in the remote Stavropol region in the Soviet south. At this point we are less than 10 min. into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from writer-director Werner Herzog. Here he digs into the life of one of the pivotal leaders of the 20th century. Herzog sets the table nicely, showing us the early 80s, by which the Soviet Union was run into the ground, socially, morally and economically, and that drastic change (the Russian word for that being "perestroika") was needed. By the time Gorbachev came into power in the mid-80s, it was almost too late. Then the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place in 1986, leading to another priority for Gorbachev: nuclear disarmament. The interviews themselves are okay (no major new revelations), what made the documentary work so well is the bigger picture, and how quickly it all happened. Werner Herzog, not a spring chicken either (he's not a crisp 78 years young) has made many documentaries before, and I typically love them. I've come to the point that as soon as I see Herzog's name associated with a documentary, I'll go watch it, period. Heck, he could probably even make a documentary about the Yellow Pages look and sound interesting. As for Gorbachev, he will forever be a beloved figure in the West, but not so much at home. When asked by Herzog what should be on his tombstone, Gorbachev responds: "We tried". (Incidentally, I visited the Soviet Union in 1983 while attending university in Belgium, and witnessed first hand the long lines of people trying to buy food staples from mostly empty store fronts. Absolutely amazing.)

"Meeting Gorbachev" premiered at last year's Telluride film festival to positive buzz, and it is no accident this movie is currently 100% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Saturday screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (exactly 10 people). If you have an interest in geopolitics or important world leaders, you could a lot worse than this and I invite you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Werner Herzog, a co-director of this documentary (along with André Singer), interviews former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev over a period of six months. Excerpts of the interviews are included in the film along with footage regarding Gorbachev's term as leader of the former Soviet Union during which massive, positive changes took place in the 1980s and early 1990s. "Meeting Gorbachev" is a UK/Germany/USA co-production and is in four languages: English, Russian, German, and Polish.

It is great to see a film highlighting one of the greatest times in history of the past forty years. In addition to being a primary player in ending oppressive Communism in eastern Europe, Gorbachev had worked with US president Ronald Reagan to limit nuclear weapons and end the Cold War of that time period.

The film is a great nostalgia trip for anyone who recalls this era - and for those wishing desperately that the current world leaders could come close to emulating those during the era covered in the film. One of the most striking images was a human chain across all three Baltic states in a peaceful protest against Soviet oppression. There are also moments of cheeky humour in reflecting the stubbornness of hard-line Communists who insisted that only those born before the Russian Revolution were worthy of being Soviet leaders. (Three funerals of leaders took place in a short four-year period as a result.)

The man and his history are certainly worthy of a tribute but the film doesn't live up to its subjects. It begins to sag in the last half-hour. In addition, Herzog's voice (and perhaps, his ego) grates as a narrator/interviewer as much as it did in "Grizzly Man" (2005). While his English is good, the film would have improved with someone else with better narration skills. Also, near the end, Herzog asks Gorbachev embarrassingly stupid questions regarding Gorbachev's dealing with the absence of his beloved wife, Raisa, who died in 1999.

But the project was made and it's a good start in returning this great man to the spotlight. Hopefully, another filmmaker will up the ante and make a better film than this one on the same subject. And high praise must also be given to Gorbachev for being so strong and astute in his late eighties. - dbamateurcritic.