Herz aus Glas

Filmed on beautiful locations in Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the USA, "Heart of Glass" (1976) is a poetic reflection on existence.

Containing a little less absurdity than, for example, "Stroszek" (1977) and "Even Dwarfs Started Small" (1970), this work by German auteur Werner Herzog is rather a dramatic and thoughtful consideration of the importance of knowledge.

Each of Herzog's films is an experiment in one way or another. Heart of Glass is one of the most overtly experimental of the lot. Like almost all of Herzog's films, Heart of Glass makes the most of spectacular landscapes and visual context - every scene is, in its own way, a beautiful still-life. However, in Heart of Glass, the effect of the visual context is compounded by the fact that almost every member of the cast - throughout the entire film - is in a state of hypnosis. Predictably, the acting is, to say the least, avant-garde. Nevertheless, characterization is strong, and more importantly, this bizarre, somewhat jarring method of execution creates the film's time and place just as much as the gorgeous landscape shots.

Heart of Glass takes place in 19th century Bavaria. The Director's comments (always worth hearing after viewing a Herzog film) indicate that Herzog grew up in a place very much like this. This doesn't stop Herzog from turning his keen analysis of the human condition and modal personalities to attack the central problems of life in this time and place. The story involves a small town in crisis. The one person who holds the secret that is the key to the town's prosperity has taken that secret to his grave, and the master of the glass factory in which he worked is losing his mind looking for a solution. Meanwhile, one of the film's more sympathetic character's, a deeply insightful prophet/lunatic shepherd (with no sheep), Hias, predicts an even greater crisis.

Herzog's most consistent theme - his view of human nature - is powerfully illustrated in Heart of Glass. As the great director has often done, Herzog universalizes his view by giving us an essentially alien, dream-like setting and atmosphere. The effect of the cast's hypnotic state is even more jarring than the sheer intensity of Klaus Kinski's performances in many of Herzog's films from this period, and Heart of Glass is as avant-garde as some of his later efforts (such as The Great Blue Yonder). In other words, the average cinema-goer will have a difficult time with this one.

Recommended for Herzog, avant-garde and art-film fans. Not recommended for anybody else.

This is an offbeat and provoking film regarding the notorious craftsman of a small village carrying out glassworks and dying suddenly without revealing the secret to the known "Ruby Glass". This small village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works but things go wrong when the main foreman dies without transmit his craft wisdom . The little town slides into a deep crisis , and the owner of the glassworks becomes obsessed with the lost secret asking for help a wise man . At the village a mysterious young (Josef Bierbichler) appears telling weird prophecies about a sad future of the people .

Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of the creators of a brilliant crystal , it stars a rare prophet , a very strange and fantastic character well played by Josef Bierbichler . Concerning the deep distresses happen when the foreman of glassworks dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass creating a real depression and sadness at the village , then showing up a bizarre chracter named "Hias" -legendary Nostradamus lookalike- who is actually based on a Bavarian prophet called Mühlhias. A movie that shares with ¨Aguirre Wrath of God¨ and ¨Kaspar Hauser¨ a fascination with rare and outlandish roles . 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 a society in crisis . Josef Bierbichler provides a decent as well as agreeable acting as the mysterious young with unknown past . Accompanied by ordinary actors from Herzog factory as Clemens Scheitz and Volker Prechtel. However , most actors were really hypnotized by Werner Herzog himself and play under hypnosis on big screen.

It contains hypnotic , colorful and luxurious cinematography by Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein , Herzog's regular , being shot on various location in Monument Valley, Utah, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Niagara Falls, New York, Alaska, USA , Skellig Michael, County Kerry, Skellig Rocks, County Kerry, Ireland , Frauenaus bei Zwiesel, Bavarian Forest, Bavaria, Germany , Pischelsdorf bei Arnstorf, Bavaria,Walchsing Castle, Bavaria, and Switzerland . Accompanying a fascinating and riveting musical score by Popol Vuh . The motion picture was competently directed by Werner Herzog . Including some landmarks , as containing long, extended landscape shots . This great German director Herzog has made thoughtful 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 : 6.5/10 , acceptable and passable but extremely slow-moving and a little bit boring . The flick will appeal to Werner Herzog followers.

This is a beautifully made film and is indeed beautiful to look at. The landscapes, manipulated and natural are awe inspiring and the interiors almost painterly. However, it is undeniably slow. It is also unworldly. We have a peasant making rather odd prophesies and a cast, acting under hypnosis, responding or not as the mood takes them. Certainly a very different cinema experience but a little wayward and unfocused for my liking. I have to say, though, thanks to the wonder of DVDs, this does come with an accompanying conversation with the director. Watching the commentary track is for me a far more engaging and satisfying experience. Enjoyable too! Herzog is simply marvellous in giving full explanations in instances such as the circumstances of the hypnosis and totally uncooperative when the questioning gets a bit close to seeking 'the answer'. I always hate it when an artist is asked to interpret his work (as if there would be any point in it if it can be fully explained another way) and here Herzog slaps down his interviewer on several occasions. Quite right. Well worth watching/listening for an alternative view on the art of film.

Heart of Glass (1976)

Werner Herzog may well be one of my most cherished humans on the planet. If he were giving a lecture on the idiosyncrasies of his films, I would like to be there. If he was sitting on a sidewalk eating chips, I too would like to be there. He is without a doubt one of the cinema's most fascinating minds ever. He is, in my opinion, the King of the New German Wave of the 70s. And he still makes great and exciting movies! One of his most enchanting moments in his long and ambitious career (really, was there any man more ambitious in films than he?), is Heart of Glass, a totally bizarre portrait of a town gone mad. Although the picture for all intensive purposes defies the boundaries of any genre, it has been described as an absurdest drama-dy. That's a pretty suiting classification. If Heart of Glass can be described in one word, it would have to be absurd.

The film's protagonist Hias, a prophet of sorts. He can see the future, and seems usually to be depressed with the burden. His village has just lost the proprietor of its livelihood. The foreman of their red Ruby Glass factory, the only man who knew the secret of how to make it, died without ever getting the chance to pass it on. The town now searches in vain for the secret. Without it they grow depressed and begin losing their sanity, particularly the man who owns the glass works factory in his bid to discover the secrets.

That's really all that I can disclose about the film. Herzog's film is one based on style and atmosphere, getting at something underneath its story. He famously hypnotized the entire cast for each scene, save for the actor playing Hias and the professional glassblowers. Much of the dialogue was then improvised in a hypnotic state by the actors. Herzog described how an uneducated man in the cast was hypnotized, and then told to read a poem on the wall. The man replied he couldn't' see it without its glasses. Herzog told him to just move forward and he would see it. He then reportedly read off a stunning poem - a work of his own mind, since no poem ever existed on that wall. The hypnosis not only gives the actor's improvisations an peculiarity, but also their manner of delivery. It's bizarre, but totally encompassing.

It's moments of comedy are bizarre but joyful. Two men argue about who will die first, then the townspeople find them and argue which one is still alive. Later, the live man takes the dead man to the pub for a dance as a hurdy gurdy man plays.

The film starts with a long shot of Hias sitting in the mountain field watching cows in the fog. Herzog then employs footage he shot of clouds in the mountains, taken over the course of days. One shot in particular appears as though a wave of clouds is invading the hills. It's an absolutely breathtaking shot, and one that I've never forgotten, and likely never will.

Herzog once famously suggested that he directs landscapes more so than actors. In Heart of Glass he gives ample evidence to his claim. He takes joy in cutting away to seemingly completely unrelated events: a mountain waterfall, close up, as Hias narrates (it is claimed that this shot will have a hypnotic effect, especially if you speak German and do not have to read the subtitles); smoking springs and ancient trees at Yosemite; and a finale that involves a 500 year old monastery on a steep rocky Island off Ireland (Skellig Islands, fascinating place). The imagery and moody accomplishments of Heart of Glass are difficult to describe in words. It's one of the most visually arresting movie's I've ever seen. Herzog shot the film just a few miles from where he was raised in Bavaria. To list all the stunning shots in the film would be a tedious task. Virtually ever outdoors shot triumphs. It's visual poetry is profound.

Heart of Glass is one of Herzog's most unabashedly poetic and abstract films. Who else but Herzog would hypnotize his entire cast for artistic ambitions? It's a glorious film that thrives on its own integrity, and the mad visions of its ingenious helmer.