Werner Herzog – Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2023)
Herzog has lived many lives and exudes an endless curiosity — as if, as a child, he fell into a Bavarian creek awash with potion and clambered out anew, like some German Obelix.
August 2024 • Non-fiction
Werner Herzog says he is a writer first and a filmmaker second. To many, the opposite is true: a quirk, according to him, that will hopefully be ironed out with time. I've admired Herzog for years — I haven't seen every film of his, nor have I read all of his books, but whenever I take in any of his work I can only appreciate his skill and relentless originality.
I'm most fond of his documentaries. He pierces through to the soul of the people he interviews on camera and relays their unique human experience to his viewers in a way few people can. In no way is he your average interviewer: Herzog tends to peel off more layers of the onion than any other interviewer would dare to do.
“Is there such a thing as insanity among penguins?”, he once asked a scientist. I think of it regularly. It's a question only he could ask, and get away with asking.
Last year, as part of an exhibit at Eye Film Museum, I watched Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans. Directed by Herzog, starring Nicholas Cage, it is the most ridiculous crime film I've ever seen. Hilarious and uncompromising: here's a director who had a film he wanted to make that is borderline insane, and somehow managed to have everyone — studio, crew, cast — see it through from concept to execution, which may well be a greater achievement than shooting any of its material.
In the same period I watched a documentary on Herzog, Radical Dreamer, and learned nearly nothing. What I remember, though — and have paraphrased numerous times since — is him saying the images one can shoot on Earth are spoilt, “the landscapes embarrassed”, and how he'd signed himself up to become an astronaut for NASA, only to be denied. “They always send technicians up there, but never a poet.”
These three bits — the penguin, the crime film, and the poet wanting to travel into space — do a decent job of exposing the breadth and vastness of Herzog's world. He has seen, done and documented things most of us can only dream of, seemingly living the lives of many people all at once. Through his work he exudes an endless curiosity — as if, as a child, he fell into a Bavarian creek awash with potion and clambered out anew, like some German Obelix.
This memoir, I think, provides a glimpse into most of those lives. I say I think because there were times while reading it that I didn't believe a word of it. In his recounting of stories and experiences so outlandish it's difficult to gauge when or if he's telling the truth (Herzog himself previously said he is always looking for the ‘ecstatic truth’, and if he were to read his own book after publication (which he'd never do), I'm not entirely sure he'd find it).
Yet, I hung on to nearly every word, his accounts an enjoyable jumble of priceless anecdotes. I enjoyed learning about his upbringing, his relationships, his early endeavours in setting up a film studio, and his retellings of roaming our planet. Of all the physical harm he has endured while doing so, as the human punching bag he apparently is, and all the physical harm he has narrowly avoided (missing a flight that crashed, being shot during a BBC interview, or nearly avoiding a beheading in Peru).
I thoroughly enjoyed a chapter about projects he dreamed up but never executed, one wackier than the next, all of them distinctly Herzogian. My favourite:
“I always wanted to direct a ‘Hamlet’ and have all the parts played by ex-champion livestock auctioneers; I wanted the performance to come in at under 14 minutes.”
Other reviewers say his ego gets in the way of his wives, lovers and collaborators. I disagree.
His towering personality takes up a lot of space, and he never shies away from writing down a compliment he's received from a famous person, which is jarring. Though, where possible, he writes about the people he lived and worked with in a way that is deeply kind and caring, singing their praises where they are due.
Of a man with an outstanding ability to observe and showcase the world and lives around him, I would expect no less.
Every Man for Himself and God Against All by Werner Herzog
Published by Penguin Press in 2023
One book recommendation, once per month.
Book #18 • August 2024
