The White Diamond (2004)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Werner Herzog (writer) and
Rudolph Herzog (story)

Release Date:

13 January 2005 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Documentary | Adventure | Biography

Plot:

THE WHITE DIAMOND is a film about the daring adventure of exploring rainforest canopy with a novel flying device-the Jungle Airship...

Plot Keywords:

Airship | Expedition | Canopy | Flying | Rain Forest

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Werner Herzog	...	Himself / narrator
Graham Dorrington	...	Himself (as Dr. Graham Dorrington)
Götz Dieter Plage	...	Himself (archive footage)
Adrian de Schryver	...	Himself (archive footage)
Annette Scheurich	...	Herself
Marc Anthony Yhap	...	Himself
Dr. Michael Wilk	...	Himself
Anthony Melville	...	Himself
Jan-Peter Meewes	...	Himself
Jason Gibson	...	Himself

Runtime:

Germany:88 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cardington Hangers, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Marco Polo Film AG

Quotes:

Marc Anthony Yhap: Wow, I would like to use this craft to fly up to them, yeah. Even if it takes a whole year, months. I would love to have this craft to fly to them. Maybe land on the rooftop, give them a surprise. Yeah, it would be beautiful there, for me to be in the aircraft early in the morning. There is Marc Yhap at their doorstep saying, 'Hello, good morning.'

Movie Connections:

References Cobra Verde (1987)

more like a poem than a documentary

In "The White Diamond," famed documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog has fashioned a quirky, visually beautiful tribute to all the risk takers and dreamers who make exploration and discovery possible.

Herzog has chosen for his subject Dr. Graham Dorrington, an aeronautics engineer who has invented a small, helium-powered airship that allows him to fly over and into the canopy of the South American rainforest in order to study the richly varied life forms that inhabit that hitherto unexplored area of the planet's biosphere. Dorrington, who comes across as part humanitarian scientist and part lovable crackpot, is nothing if not eager to share his adventures with Herzog and his crew of brave filmmakers.

Even though there is much of interest in the setting-up stage of the experiment and the short history of aviation Herzog provides at the beginning, the movie itself is almost so lackadaisical in its approach that it often feels unfocused and devoid of passion, but once Dorrington and Herzog himself are airborne, with the camera moving in for unbelievably tight close-ups of the creatures living within the soaring treetops, the movie becomes a treasure trove of rare and wonderful sights that even the least nature-oriented among us will find impossible to forget.

This is one of the least flashy documentary films you will ever see. For despite the very real risks to life and limb involved in the project, this is a work that finds its beauty and drama in the serene majesty of the setting and the elegant simplicity of the airship itself. More mood piece than scientific document, "The White Diamond" should appeal as much to the poet as to the adventurer in all of us.