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Movies / Upcoming / Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana
Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana

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Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana (1971)

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Reviews Counted:8

Fresh:8

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.1/10

Runtime: 54 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: A collection of two documentaries by Werner Herzog, FATA MORGANA (1971) and LESSONS OF DARKNESS (1992), this program illustrates Herzog's sustained vision, one where nature and man are continually... A collection of two documentaries by Werner Herzog, FATA MORGANA (1971) and LESSONS OF DARKNESS (1992), this program illustrates Herzog's sustained vision, one where nature and man are continually at war with one another. Made more than 20 years apart, these two films are remarkably similar. FATA MORGANA, shot in the Sahara desert, is a mostly silent film, accompanied only by the reading of the Popul Vuh, a Mayan creation myth, and the songs of Leonard Cohen. Poetic, beautiful, and often humorous, Herzog's images twist and turn in the mind, forcing the viewer to step outside themselves and look at the world as a combination and clash between the natural and the man made. LESSONS OF DARKNESS is ostensibly a documentation of Kuwait in the aftermath of the Gulf War, when oil fires were burning up the land and transforming the formerly beautiful countryside into a surreal new landscape. Mostly silent and accompanied by classical music, in a few segments local Kuwaitis bemoan the destructiveness of the fires and the war. Herzog, however, shoots the changed landscape in a way that makes it at once terrifying and beautiful. [More]

Director: Werner Herzog

Director: Werner Herzog
Composer: Leonard Cohen

Reviews for Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana

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1 - 10 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Though shot straightforward, it all looks so nightmarish, alien and surreal.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/28/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
10/01/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinematic Reflections | comment Comment
10/30/06
Derek Smith
Derek Smith
Cinematic Reflections
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out

One of Herzog's earliest - and most evocative - cinematic essays on the uneasy relationships between man and Earth, unaffected reality and orchestrated drama.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
02/16/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

No review available.

comment Comment
07/23/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Herzog is a fearless, meticulous director who approaches his subject in a timeless manner, turning this disaster into a great theme, a story for all time.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/09/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Lays the groundwork for Herzog's masterpiece Aguirre: The Wrath of God.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
04/12/05
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Exotic animals, gutted structures, rusting vehicles, orientalist tourists - each a fragment of a hazy and disassembled culture mapped onto a desert wasteland

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
12/21/04
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

One of the few films that truly deserves to be labeled with the adjective astonishing.

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
09/04/04
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com
 
 
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