Lessons of Darkness

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.”