Woyzeck

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.

Klaus Kinski gives a couragous effort that deserved an Oscar for Best Actor in 1979. Woyzeck(1979) deals with a lower level solider who's clinging to the small amount of sanity left in him. The film is competently done by Werner Herzog. The motion Picture comes on the heels of Herzog's Nosferatu(1979). Its one of the best films by Werner Herzog that isn't as notorious as films like Fitzcarraldo(1982), Aguirre:The Wrath of God(1974), and The Mystery of Kaspar Hausar(1975).

There is a murder in the movie that's worthy of the shower scene in Psycho(1960). Woyzeck(1979) follows a few themes that were prominent in Herzog's debut Signs of Life(1967). The fast motion scene at the beginning is marvolous. Klaus Kinski was really being kicked around in the opening scene. Klaus Kinski did such a great job at his realistic portrayal that the actor almost ended up like the main character.

This movie is far from perfect, but there are a few scenes here and there that are absolutly hair-raising : Kinski in a state of total exaustion at the begining, the scene in the woods when he starts to hear voices and the unbeleivable murder scene consisting of two shots disguised as one that last about 5 minutes in slow motion (it has to be seens to be beleived). The use of music is fantastic, the photography impecable. Herzog does as usual and captures another world while Kinski is plainly living in it. There are a few off scenes and some of the dialogue gets a bit obvious in it's openly nialistic cliches, but most of the movie holds up. One of those movies that you simply have to see at least once.

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.

This is not a spoiler as it reveals little more than what is included in the original trailer.

As "Beautiful a murder as you could hope for," remarks the Policeman in the final scene of Herzog's Woyzeck . And he is right. Herzog adaptation of Buchner's play is a triumph of cinema. While most "murder films" focus on plot and atmosphere rather than character (i.e. Hitchcock's Psycho), Woyzeck takes us slowly and elegantly into the protagonist's psyche in such a way that the final murder scene is an explosion of cinematic poetry. Herzog's rather faithful rendition of Buchner's play benefits from its adaptation the screen and gives up nearly nothing of the original theatrical performance. For example, in remaining faithful to the original text, the prolific amount of monologues gives us insight into the characters' internal state and makes every action more meaningful. The long speeches are refreshing after being overexposed the choppy interchange of half sentences that are characteristic of most contemporary screenplays. And yet Herzog's adaptation is not merely a filmed play.

The acting, directing and cinematography are beautifully coordinated. Kinsky's brilliant performance as Woyzeck makes us believe that there is no other actor that could pull off the role with such vigor and passion, and of course, in such a frighteningly convincing way. And of course Herzog's direction is strongly felt. And last but not least, most of the cinematography is gorgeous and beautifully framed. To be sure it is not a perfect film, there are some almost clumsy panning shots, and the film's rushed production is evident in the editing. This is why I give the film an 8. And yet this film will forever change the way you look at cinema.