La ballade du petit soldat

For 'Ballad of the little soldier',Werner Herzog worked with Denis Reichle who fought against the Russian army.There is a brief description of him talking about what he experienced as a child soldier.The film gains its force through the portrayal of young children who have been employed as soldiers by Miskito Indians who fight against Sandinistas.During the course of talks with these child soldiers,it is revealed that many of them chose to take up arms in order to avenge their family members who were killed by Sandinistas.Watching small children learning to shoot guns,one is reminded of the role weapons play in killing even innocent souls who ought to go to school or play.It has been exactly three decades since documentary film 'Ballad of the little soldier' was made by Werner Herzog in 1984.It is hailed as one of the most important works of cinema about the use of children as soldiers.This film has not at all lost its relevance as there are still numerous wars being waged in different parts of the world where children are involved as little soldiers.

Ballad of a Little Soldier (1984)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Werner Herzog documentary takes a look at the children soldiers caught up in the Miskito Indian battle in Nicaragua. The first part of the film takes a look at the adults doing their thing but it grows rather boring pretty quickly. The interviews by Herzog are honest and straight forward but nothing really picks up the drama actually going on with the kids.

Dark Glow of the Mountain, The (1984)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting documentary from Werner Herzog follows world famous mountain climbers Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander as they scale both of the Gasherbrum mountains, which are 8,000 meters each. The documentary really doesn't focus on the difficulty of the climb but instead the psychology of what it takes to be willing to do something as dangerous as this. Herzog asks some hard questions about their mental state and if they have a death wish and their answers are kind of unique.

No One Will Play With Me (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Werner Herzog directed short about a young boy who plays alone in his classroom because no on there wants to play with him. One day a girl goes back to his house to see his pet raven and then we learn why he is the way he is. This is a rather bleak and depressing little film and Herzog perfectly captures the mood of the "secret", which I won't reveal here.

"The Ballad of the Little Soldier" opening song went on too long Miskito Indian way too long' didn't explain their plight and that the tribe fought for both sides

It's odd that I would say that a documentary is badly in need of an editing--and STILL it's an extraordinary film that is well worth seeing. Had the film been trimmed a bit, it would have been amazingly good. It begins with a child soldier singing a song--a song that seems to go on forever. And, when the film ends, he once again sings the same song! This easily could have been trimmed and would have made the film much less long-winded and a lot more likely to keep the attention of the audience. However, what happens in between is VERY compelling. It consists of Werner Herzog and his crew visiting a Contra camp during the bloody Nicaraguan civil war of the 1980s. These folks were anti-communist Miskito Indians--and often ranged from 10-12 years of age! What they only mentioned briefly is that the Miskitos ALSO fought with the communists--making the whole war rather pointless from their point of view. Overall, aside from a need for editing, it's a powerful film--due to the amazingly sad content. Worth seeing and heartbreaking that kids were used like this and continue to be used throughout the world to fight wars that they don't even understand.

... In other words, Ballad of the Little Soldier from Werner Herzog - in collaboration with photojournalist Denis Richie - is kind of impossible to give a real 'rating' to. This serves really as a document of human rights abuse - in large part with child soldiers (that is, at about the 25 minute mark) - than a typical documentary. If you've seen some of Herzog's other docs (think Fata Morgana or Herdsman of the Sun) there's none of the self conscious style one finds in his non fiction (no one looks in a stylized meditative pose at the camera). his recent Death Row docs if anything are much closer in showing the devastation of thev human spirit - point, talk, and shoot.

What you get in Little Soldier is: 'This is what's happening in Honduras, people are being killed by the Sandinistas, people are being herded up into refugee camps that will not last a month, families are torn asunder, and indigenous India children are being trained to kill in turn'. We're given a lot of narration here from Herzog, and it's necessary: this is like a Frontline piece that is trying to get in a lot of information in a short amount of time. I only wish this were longer as at 45 minute there's really only so much time, though I wonder if some of their access was limited (at one point they show the start of a battle, with adult troops off a river-boat, and as much danger Herzog could get I sensed there was only so much war documentarian in this case).

What stays with you while watching it and once it's over are the faces of these children, shown plainly, occasionally singing on camera - this may be the closest to something that isn't 'just happening' as it's going on, but here I took away that we see there is still humanity in these children, they can still sing songs and respond to joy - and then being trained to fire guns and missiles. The narration is blunt and to the point, and only near the end does Richie put his perspective on it all. It's horrific too to think how this is really the norm in many countries to this day; one thinks of those in African areas especially, or Boko Haram.

An adult soldier comments at one point the children were braver than the adults to fight against Communism... like they'd know better! Ballad of the Little Soldier may be one of the deadliest/ serious films the Bavarian director made, and it packs a gut punch for how it just looks on at this people ripped apart by the Sandinistas and the war machine that rose up in Central America in the 80's. There's fire here.

German film-maker Werner Herzog is well-known for his obsession with, well, obsession, finding joy and producing some great documentaries over the years championing the quirkiness of the human spirit. With Ballad of the Little Soldier, the focus is not on the idiosyncratic but on the child soldiers serving in Nicaragua fighting for the native Miskito Indians against the oppressive Sandinistas. Although he may deny it, this is Herzog's most political film to date. With co-director Denis Reichle, who served the Nazi's in the Volkssturm, Herzog's interviews various Miskito inhabitants who have fallen victim of the brutal Sandinistan regime.

At only 45 minutes long, Herzog and Reichle manage to paint a large picture of what life was like for the Miskito's. A woman wails about her family, butchered at the hands of the Socialist Sandinistas, whose government initiative to move the Miskito's into civilised society has led to their villages being sacked and torched, and the mass murder of men, women and children. The persistent nature of Herzog and Reichle's interview techniques do often make things uncomfortable, but it certainly makes for devastating viewing.

Narratively, the film is all over the place. The cinema verite style contradicts the film's title, shifting focus away from the children far too often in favour of the adult soldiers, who march past the camera with similar resigned, weathered expressions. But this is still powerful stuff, with Herzog's narration lending the film a dream-like quality amidst the seriousness of the subject matter, and Reichle's recollection of his time in the Volksstrum as a child making for difficult viewing, especially told in the context of the events that were unfolding in Nicaragua. Although this is far from Herzog's best documentary, he manages to achieve more in 45 minutes than most documentarians could only dream of.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com