Cobra Verde (1987)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Bruce Chatwin (novel)
Werner Herzog (writer)

Release Date:

3 December 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

The slaves will sell their masters and grow wings...

Plot:

The feared bandit Cobra Verde (Klaus Kinski) is hired by a plantation owner to supervise his slaves...

Plot Keywords:

Slave | Africa | Bandit | Plantation | King

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	Francisco Manoel da Silva / Cobra Verde
King Ampaw	...	Taparica
José Lewgoy	...	Don Octavio Coutinho
Salvatore Basile	...	Captain Fraternidade
Peter Berling	...	Bernabé
Guillermo Coronel	...	Euclides the Bar Owner
Nana Agyefi Kwame II	...	King Bossa Ahadee (as His Royal Highness Nana Agyefi Kwame II of Nsein)
Nana Fedu Abodo	...	Yovogan
Kofi Yerenkyi	...	Bakoko
Kwesi Fase	...	Kankpé
Benito Stefanelli	...	Captain Pedro Vicente
Kofi Bryan
Carlos Mayolo	...	Governor
Pedro Oliveira
A. Kwesi Compson

Also Known As:

Slave Coast

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Ghana | West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Spain:13 | Denmark:11 | Portugal:M/12 (video) | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-11 | Norway:16 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bahia, Brazil

Company:

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Trivia:

The fifth and last of the Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski collaborations, the other four being: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972), Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979), Woyzeck (1979) & Fitzcarraldo (1982).

Quotes:

Francisco Manoel da Silva: [storming into the royal hut] The dead Kings have deposed you!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bis ans Ende... und dann noch weiter. Die ekstatische Welt des Filmemachers Werner Herzog (1989) (TV)

Inspired Chaos.

From famous German director Werner Herzog - a man who's cinematic penchants usually include documentary-style visuals (stark but not shaky!), stories centering on man's loss of sanity, destructive ambition (or lack thereof) and outsiders, and larger than life characters - comes his last "big" film. To put it more aptly, his last film with famously bonkers actor Klaus Kinski. Both men had a famously sadomasochistic relationship and in this last effort, Kinski was reputedly totally out of control.

"Cobra Verde" marks the breaking point between these two great man. the point where Herzog and Kinski moved to far apart to ever consider working together again, the director evolving into too much of a control adept, and the leading man moving way beyond the safe boundaries of sanity. Yet the film is an extreme as a result and will divide audiences. But in truth how can this be a negative aspect: a film you either love or hate is at least interesting in most cases.

The story of bandit Cobra Verde, sent to Africa - by his former employer as a punishment for impregnating most of his daughters - to reestablish slave trade and battle an opposing bloodthirsty African tribal king, is in itself interesting and unusual enough to arouse interest, but barely suffices to convey the numerous delicacies within the film. Kinski's possessed turn may not be an adequate incarnation of the character, yet it is a powerhouse performance if only for the sheer energy deployed. And for once, Kinski is not the only raving lunatic and Herzog peppers the screenplay with often creepy and dark but hysterical lines and memorable situations and characters.

What may disturb many beyond the chaos on show is the casual cruelty on display at times. It is adequate for once. The black man is treated with as much political correctness as must have been the case in real life at the time (perhaps even somewhat less). On the other front, watching this you actually feel the suffocating heat that slowly burns away the dignity of these characters and makes them animals, sometimes far less than that. The film's mood is perfectly rendered and Herzog's visuals are surprisingly artistic and classy at times, for a film-maker preferring a more "cinéma-vérité" approach.

In the end, "Cobra Verde" is a cinematic oddity because of its taste for extremes (though they never hurt the film's own coherence and internal logic) in every sense. Nonetheless, neither Kinski nor Herzog ever displayed such artistic courage (or sheer lunacy) at any other point of their respective careers, and that's saying something!