Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

Those who know of Werner Herzog and his film work know he communicates with seriousness and intensity. Every sentence is a deliberate act of poetry. Herzog has no interest in wasting time saying anything that is not important.

In case it isn't obvious from the title, this movie is literally about Herzog eating his shoe after losing a bet. The levity and absurdity of this act is only amplified by the seriousness and intensity with which he approaches it. He must prepare the shoe as one would prepare a last meal, or prepare a body before burial.

If you haven't seen anything by Herzog before, don't bother just yet. If you have, I hope you laugh and cry as much as I did.

This is a little documentary prepared by Les Blank about Werner Herzog's sort of bet to Errol Morris that he should make a movie, but if he did with the luck that he would need as a first time director, he would literally eat a shoe. Herzog adamantly says in the documentary that he's only doing it in support of Morris and his film (which at the time this doc was released didn't yet have distribution despite its great acclaim at festivals), though there's something sublimely absurd about it all, even through Herzog's deadpan/serious talks to the camera. He talks a bit about Morris and his film too, and his praise for it is all well and good. But it's even more interesting to see a) Herzog's views on commercialism and film-making and the lack of "adequate images", and b) director Les Blank's inventive cross-cutting between the on-stage eating of the show, footage of Charlie Chaplin doing the act in a silent, and Herzog talking to the camera. It's funny once or twice, perhaps unintentionally from Herzog's words (i.e. "it's not self-destructive to throw yourself into a pile of cactus"). But for the most part it's meant as a very serious act of foolishness not just for Morris but for filmmakers everywhere. If you can find it- and it's now available on free sites like you-tube- it's worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Herzog. And for Morris fans too there's a quick treat in an outtake from Gates of Heaven spliced in at one point. That song, by the way, of which I quote in the one-line summary, is awesome.

I'm happy this exists even if there's not even close to enough eating of shoes for my taste

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)

*** (out of 4)

Funny short has director Werner Herzog eating his shoe after losing a bet to a friend. The documentary does a nice job building up tension and there's some nice side talk about the importance of film.

Burden of Dreams (1982)

**** (out of 4)

Incredible documentary from director Les Blank about the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. The Herzog film is one of the most amazing films I've seen and it's rather shocking, due to that film's troubled history, that a documentary was being filmed on it. In the Herzog film you realize that the main character played by Klaus Kinski was crazy because of what he was trying to do. In this documentary, you realize that Herzog was crazy for even trying to make this film.

'Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)' is not just about Werner Herzog eating his shoe, even though he does indeed do that. The promise of an acclaimed director literally dining out on his worn-out leather loafers (or whatever non-alliterative make they really are) is, essentially, enough to get anyone to watch, but I suppose that people popping this documentary on for its eponymous premise alone may, indeed, be somewhat disappointed, especially considering that the footwear feeding takes up perhaps less than half of its run-time (though, the idea of it dominates the entire piece) and that the actual eating isn't technically on-screen at all. I have no doubt that Herzog really did do the deed, especially since most of it takes place in front of a live audience, but the lack of overt cobbler chewing is certainly a missed opportunity in terms of comedy, cringe and intrigue. Still, all three of those things are here in spades. The spectacle of watching a man cook and eat his shoe because he said he would do so, presumably in the flippant way the expression is usually used, is undoubtedly real. It's also quite funny, especially since Herzog himself is so casual all the time - I mean, this is the man who would later just brush off a bullet wound because "it's not significant". Here, he's more occupied with monologuing about the current, clown-like state of film, his dislike of commercials and talk-shows, how he views a 'lack of images' as a real world-threat, the time that he jumped into a cactus to show his crew that he understood what they were going through and, perhaps most importantly, how fantastic his friend Errol Morris' new film is. Of course, it's the latter that got this flick made. The whole shoe-eating bet came about because Morris was complaining of a lack of funding for his eventual 'Gates Of Heaven (1978)'; Herzog's fulfilment of this bet was used to promote that movie at one of its pre-distribution screenings and this documentary, essentially, furthers that goal. So, despite Herzog's apparent dislike of commercials, that's all this basically serves as, aside from a comic curiosity and opportunity for Herzog to express his views. It doesn't feel like it's selling you anything, aside from when it overtly is (when people talk up 'Gates Of Heaven (1978)' presumably because they genuinely enjoy it), and it has enough flair to be enjoyable in its own right. It feels like the sort of thing you'd see on YouTube nowadays, a well-produced video more at home online than on the big-screen. It's entertaining enough and is fairly funny on occasion. Plus, some of the stuff that Herzog says seems pretty wise, resonating across the years to be just as relevant today (if not more so). If you know what you're getting into or are a fan of Herzog and his dead-pan nonchalance, I'd say that you'll enjoy this short film... I wouldn't bet my shoe on it, though. 6/10