© Werner Herzog Film / Deutsche Kinemathek
© Werner Herzog Film / Deutsche Kinemathek
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Sunday, Nov 12, 2023
1:30 PM (53 mins)
SOLD OUT
BAMPFA
Lessons of Darkness
(Lektionen in Finsternis)
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In Person
Perhaps only someone as extreme as Herzog could have envisioned making a film about this event as if it were being seen by a traveler from another world witnessing the destruction of ours. His tragic worldview has at last found its triumphant visual and aural expression.
Amos Vogel, Film Comment
Alien environments are not unfamiliar to Herzog, and in the Kuwait oil fields in the aftermath of the Gulf War, he finds another apocalyptic locale for the haunting Lessons of Darkness. The film is, in his words, “a poetic vision of the new landscapes which have emerged in Kuwait.” Filming just a week before the last oil fire was put out, Herzog’s team captures the grotesque beauty of a desert storm of fire, smoke, and spewing oil brought on by war’s destruction. Utilizing aerial photography and music from such composers as Mahler, Prokofiev, and Wagner, Herzog takes us on a mesmerizing tour of “Satan’s National Park.”
Screenwriter
- Werner Herzog
Cinematographer
- Paul Berriff
Language
- German
- English
- Arabic
- with English subtitles
Print Info
- Color
- DCP
- 53 mins
Source
- American Genre Film Archive
Event Accessibility
If you have any questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or call us at (510) 642-1412 (during open hours) with as much advance notice as possible. More information on accessibility services.