The circle motif is something very evident in many of Werner Herzog’s films. In films like Aguirre and Stroszek, characters were often found travelling in a circular route, both metaphorically and physically.
Critics have also pointed out that
the base of the circle was analogized as an abyss - an impossible ideal where characters
tried their utmost best to conquer. The fact that they travelled along the
circumference of the circle meant that they would always keep a distance from
the center of their concern - the goal they have strived so hard to achieve.
Some of the men in Aguirre’s troop were trapped in a whirlpool along the river,
and the raft turned in circles, until it disappeared the next day, signifying
death. When everyone around Aguirre died, he could finally become the next
thing as good as becoming God - the nemesis of God, which he called as ‘The Wrath
of God’. With some monkeys on the raft, the camera tracked Aguirre who has
descended into complete madness, and the circular path suggested as if he was
locked inside his solipsism. The monkeys at the end of the film suggested that evolution,
or our development of civilization, has lifted or led us to nowhere. The sad
fact is, we have always been going in circles. Likewise in Fitzcarraldo, the
haunting vision of a single umbrella travelling its way down the river served
at a great premonition of the doomed failure of his wildest dreams.
In
contrast, Stroszek is a film that dealt with the alienation of the individual
of the modern world. Though it may appear the theme is directed against
America, it was not an anti-American film, as the situations in the film were
far more universal than that. Stroszek, due to his personality and more so the
world that has shaped him, would meet a tragic end no matter where the
filmmaker has placed the character in. That’s the reason why Stroszek would
prefer going back to the correctional institution that has confined him,
because he did not see any improvement in terms of his well-being even if he
was set free to the outside world. It is clear that Herzog was not blaming
Stroszek for his failure. He was blaming the problems of our world that have
led Stroszek to these troubles in the first place. Stroszek represented the
archetype of an underdog, the sort of characters the audience would more likely
to meet in the real life. While landscape was also featured in Stroszek, it was
a barren landscape, one that suggested emptiness or hopelessness rather than
myth or mystery.
After
a failed robbery attempt and a series of miscalculations, Stroszek found
himself stranded and drove his car in circles, until the gas ran out and he
pulled the trigger on himself. Wasn’t that a great analogy for his life? Or
maybe anyone’s life? The scene was further satirized when police was called to
deal with a dancing chicken automaton nearby, which for some unknown reasons
could not be stopped. The metaphor here was provocative, yet both scenarios
pointed to a similar conclusion. If no further coins were put into the machine,
the dancing chicken would just move aimlessly until the power ran out… to the
end of life.
The
exuberant visual style from Werner Herzog will fascinate anyone who is
passionate about cinema!
(2/2)
by Ed Law
Film Analysis
