Saturday, June 02, 2007

Werner Herzog

German film director Werner Herzog creates some of the most idiosyncratic documentaries [such as the mesmerizing Grizzly Man] and feature films [such as the bizarre Aguirre: The Wrath of God] around today. He is one of the last true auteurs. The Onion A.V. Club asked him about his theory behind the documentaries he creates. Here is a bit of what he said:
You see, what cinema verite tried to do was to present just the accountant's truth. They were too fact-oriented. I have always postulated that we have to find a new way to deal with reality. It's not so much facts that interest me, but a deeper truth in them—an ecstasy of truth, an ecstatic truth that illuminates us. That's what I've been after. And in order to find it, you have to be imaginative. You have to invent. You have to stylize. There's absolutely no danger in that. The danger is to stupidly believe that depicting facts gives us much insight. If facts were the only thing that counted, the telephone directory would be the book of books.
Read the interview here.

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