German perspective in America

Herzog's Stroszek presents a vision of America so American, it seems alien. That film, like Wenders' Paris, Texas shows us America as it looks to the unbiased observer, in this case, a German. In Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, we actually see the man behind the obsessive tales of madness like Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, and he comes across as, well, fairly odd himself. Herzog displays great humor and is likable, yet his dogged commitment to fulfilling this passing remark he made in class is distancing. It is interesting to note this film, which could be about the cultural gap between Americans and Germans - perhaps the Germans really do believe in honoring your word to the fullest extent, while Americans joke about these things- but a young filmmaker can't help but be inspired by Herzog's at-any-cost devotion to the art of film, right down to his advice to would be filmmakers: "Steal a camera, steal raw stock! Break into a lab and do it!"

I met Les Blank a couple of years ago at a film festival, where I bought a copy of this rare film sight unseen. I was not disappointed.