MovieChat Forums > The Thin Blue Line (1988) Discussion > Werner Herzog's influence

Werner Herzog's influence

posted 13 years ago by birthdaynoodle
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In the book '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' (2005), Jonathan Rosenbaum writes about 'The Thin Blue Line': "The results are compelling, even if they provide an object lesson in the dangers of being influenced by Werner Herzog..." What exactly does he mean? Why would Herzog's influence on Morris be considered negative or dangerous?

In the previous paragraph, Rosenbaum claims that the film gives "rise to a lot of metaphysical speculations that, provocative as they are, tend to overshadow many of the issues about what actually happened during the crime," including "the issue of motive," which is "virtually untouched." Is that what he sees as a negative influence from Herzog?

At an interview with both filmmakers at the Toronto International Film Festival (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG0HvHQlvzM), Morris states that he considers Herzog's films one of his first inspirations and goes on to say that he regards Herzog's work as a hybrid between fiction and non-fiction. Is that it then?

Any thoughts?

(Btw, at least in that interview, Herzog speaks in a pedantic, patronizing way, while Morris, in contrast, comes off as a down-to-earth, low-key guy.)

[–] dyahrmarkt 13 years ago

I'm not sure of the entire context with Rosenbaum's rant against Herzog, but I do know that without Herzog's goading, Morris may have never had the guts to complete "Gates of Heaven". You may already know this, but anyways....Herzog lost a bet that if Morris ever made "Gates of Heaven" he would eat his shoe - which he did - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081746/

Rosenbaum could also mean that Herzog, having obvious inspirational motivation to Morris, may have seen his tendency to brazenly mix truth and fiction in his documentaries rub off. Rosenbaum's claim of Morris's inaccuracy could be related to this. A film made after this one called 'Bells from the Deep' by Herzog is a prime example - the 'mystery' in that film is completely made up by Herzog and acted out as if it was a documentary. Morris's scripted elements in "The Thin Blue Line" cost it a best documentary nomination.

"There is no inner peace. There is only nervousness and death." - Fran Lebowitz

[–] AssetsonFire 13 years ago

I suppose because the film strays away from a categorical pursuit of the facts in favour of a sort of rhetorical reconstruction of the interviewees' recollections of events. It could be seen as trivialising what was a subject with very real implications. The Herzog influence being in his preoccupation with 'ecstatic truth'; numinous, as opposed to empirical.