FILM REVIEW - HEART OF GLASS
Made in 1978, but I saw it at an arthouse
cinema, Manchester Cornerhouse recently (2005) Werner Herzog, te splendid
director responsible for
genuinely great films Fitzgerraldo, Nosferatu (the remake version) and
Aguirre, Wrath Of God, made Heart Of Glass too, which is a turkey and a
half, the film basically depicts the unhappiness of a town of glass makers
after they lose the formula for making their famous ruby coloured glass, and get depressed enough to assume the world itself is ending, and er, that is
about it really - Herzog wanted the cast to look intense so apparently had
them all act under hypnosis, so they look like extras from a Romero zombie
flick throughout, and spout existential pessimism like "Birds fly a thousand
miles South just to shit in the sea" and "The peasants will rise up to take the boots from the upper classes but they will still
have to wear them
when walking in the dung...." The film ends with three characters getting
in a boat to sail out to sea to meet the end of the world they expect to
be coming, and it takes an hour and a half, from the opening shot of a man
staring at cattle through a fog silently for ten minutes to the boat sailing
off, I left at the end half asleep and several in the audience were
unconscious already, and may still be there to this day.... - recreate
this film for yourself by taking a rusty nail and hammering it in light
taps into your skull over about 90 minutes - it will feel the
same -terrible movie.
Arthur Chappell
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