I have to admit I don?t recall much from Werner Herzog’s movies I have seen. But I distinctly remember that at one point I was told that all of his movies are disturbing and that?s why I was trying to avoid them up till now. And whoever said that to me, was certainly right about this one. The mere fact that all the characters are played by little people was unnerving enough. (I don’t know the PC word for midgets, dwarves, but all the characters were played by small adults.) Add to this the story with its uncertainties made it further unsettling.
We don’t know why the people are in this institution. Is it a mental one or a penitentiary? One might suspect the later, because we learn of one of them, that he hotwired over 60 cars. We don’t know whether it is supposed to be set in out time, a future time or a parallel one. We don’t know whether anything about the two blind people. But at least I learned where Luc Besson got some of his ideas for his ‘Le Dernier Combat’ movie and David Lynch his inspiration. With all this unknown the picture is till riveting. I don’t think I will be able to forget the crucifixion of the monkey, the burning of the flowers or the desperate attempt to get onto a normal height bed. Similarly to Lord of the Flies, this vision shows what happens when the rules that were forced on use by outside force (adults or wardens) are abandoned. Chaos and destruction. I hope this movie can serve as en exclamation mark to prove that this kind of vision is will never materialize.