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.

I am a fan of Herzog so I'll cut to the chase---- There is a scene in the film where a cat is thrown out of a second story window--- right into the arms of Kinski--- after he catches the cat I believe he becomes hypnotized. Kinski starts to shake and convulse (granted he is an excellent actor) but the fact that Herzog is always dealing with hypnotizing people and chickens (Heart of Glass, Even Dwarfs Started Small) i believe that he knew something about Kinski and his love for animals--- or maybe his hate for animals--- in any case he has strong feelings attached to these innocent creatures--- and I believe that Herzog exploits this to hypnotize Kinski.

When I watched it (again) I did so without the subtitles, I wanted to concentrate on the imagery and the shots. I came to realize how much Herzog's movies are like theater. The sets are made and there is usually just one shot in a scene and from a direction that makes me feel like part of a theater audience--- granted some of these sets are on a location where there is little that needs to be done to get the imagery across.

It also contains one of the best death scenes in film history.

One of Werner Herzog's most unrecognized films, Woyzeck is utterly brilliant.

Few films succeed at portraying frustration and madness as much as this. Among them are Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and Lodge Kerrigan's "Clean Shaven"

Klaus Kinski's performance is so good that just watching him is tiring, and the viewer is left anticipating when he will finally snap. Few films stick with me as much as this one and the sped up opening sequence is one of the most memorable opening scenes of any film I've seen.

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.

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.