Compared with the other films they made together in the Andes, the Amazon and West Africa this Herzog/Kinski version of 'Woyzeck' seems very small-scale indeed. The shoot was equally small-scale, with a brief schedule and long takes to reduce the number of set-ups.
I think the film is all the better for this. The story telling is brisk and straightforward and the acting uniformly excellent. If Kinski had only made this one film we would have known he was a remarkable actor. From the opening scene his movement and body-language convey Woyzeck's feverish restlessness and inner tensions. Here we don't have Kinski the raving 'ubermensch', but a pitiful little runt of a man who is put upon by everyone. Even his doctor treats Woyzeck as no more than a laboratory animal. Woyzeck meanwhile is so conditioned to a life of obedience that he willingly lives on nothing but peas for months on end as part of the doctor's investigations.
The last straw comes when Woyzeck's common-law wife has a night of sex with a handsome army musician. We are not asked to judge this woman: she enjoys sex, she thinks the musician will be a good sexual partner so she gives herself to him.
Woyzeck is distraught. The one person he felt he could trust in this world has betrayed him. He can't fight back against the musician (a robust man who lifts Woyzeck with one hand). His frustration turns into tortured insanity and murder.
This short, intense film is a little masterpiece. Highly recommended.
I think the film is all the better for this. The story telling is brisk and straightforward and the acting uniformly excellent. If Kinski had only made this one film we would have known he was a remarkable actor. From the opening scene his movement and body-language convey Woyzeck's feverish restlessness and inner tensions. Here we don't have Kinski the raving 'ubermensch', but a pitiful little runt of a man who is put upon by everyone. Even his doctor treats Woyzeck as no more than a laboratory animal. Woyzeck meanwhile is so conditioned to a life of obedience that he willingly lives on nothing but peas for months on end as part of the doctor's investigations.
The last straw comes when Woyzeck's common-law wife has a night of sex with a handsome army musician. We are not asked to judge this woman: she enjoys sex, she thinks the musician will be a good sexual partner so she gives herself to him.
Woyzeck is distraught. The one person he felt he could trust in this world has betrayed him. He can't fight back against the musician (a robust man who lifts Woyzeck with one hand). His frustration turns into tortured insanity and murder.
This short, intense film is a little masterpiece. Highly recommended.