This is a blog for Camberwell Students and Staff to talk about, critique and generally think about the Foundation Film Programme (check out the other blog criticalvoices.blogspot.com)
Friday 15 January 2010
Werner Herzog (director of Even Dwarfs Started Small)
I did not like this film at all, there was not plot, no conclution and there was alot on unnessesary animal cruelty, it made me feel sick the way they treated animals and I'm not even an animal rights activist.
I finally found someone besides me complaining about the way he abuses animals. All the other posts I read in other sites were basically idolizing it. I can't believe it. They say that this makes Herzog's films so realistic and that is the reason why he's one of the greatest filmmakers.
I thought that although the film was hard to watch at points because of the way the animals were being treated it was a film that you also couldn't take your eyes away from. It was funny as points and quite gripping and personally made me question various things about it all the way through. I came out of the cinema set on googling the film to find out more and have it explained to me as it seemed to be something to do with a break down of society or civilisation in a microcosm of society. So I've since been googling it, very interesting ideas I thought.
I was interested in the film's theme of rebellion/revolution and how people can behave when they get a little power after they've been squashed and oppressed by authority. I liked the use of small people as the actors, it worked really well.
I agree the experience of watching the film was marred by the animal cruelty. Maybe our attitudes to inflicting suffering on animals in film making has changed since this film was made?
I found this film really disturbing, I can't quite place why- I think the lack of structure, the animal cruelty, the continuous unexplained laughter, the general lack of information on character but overwhelming amount of imagery...I found it really hard to watch, and couldn't really function properly for the rest of the day. I can see there is a lot of metaphor and powerful imagery and ideas, but I think appreciation of those elements may come with a second watch, which I won't be doing for a very long time.
I did not like this film at all, there was not plot, no conclution and there was alot on unnessesary animal cruelty, it made me feel sick the way they treated animals and I'm not even an animal rights activist.
ReplyDeleteI finally found someone besides me complaining about the way he abuses animals. All the other posts I read in other sites were basically idolizing it. I can't believe it. They say that this makes Herzog's films so realistic and that is the reason why he's one of the greatest filmmakers.
DeleteI thought that although the film was hard to watch at points because of the way the animals were being treated it was a film that you also couldn't take your eyes away from. It was funny as points and quite gripping and personally made me question various things about it all the way through. I came out of the cinema set on googling the film to find out more and have it explained to me as it seemed to be something to do with a break down of society or civilisation in a microcosm of society. So I've since been googling it, very interesting ideas I thought.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in the film's theme of rebellion/revolution and how people can behave when they get a little power after they've been squashed and oppressed by authority. I liked the use of small people as the actors, it worked really well.
ReplyDeleteI agree the experience of watching the film was marred by the animal cruelty. Maybe our attitudes to inflicting suffering on animals in film making has changed since this film was made?
I found this film really disturbing, I can't quite place why- I think the lack of structure, the animal cruelty, the continuous unexplained laughter, the general lack of information on character but overwhelming amount of imagery...I found it really hard to watch, and couldn't really function properly for the rest of the day. I can see there is a lot of metaphor and powerful imagery and ideas, but I think appreciation of those elements may come with a second watch, which I won't be doing for a very long time.
ReplyDelete