MovieChat Forums > Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998) Discussion > Drama? Tragedy? Comedy?

Drama? Tragedy? Comedy?

posted 17 years ago by Cass1us
4 replies | jump to latest

Saw this recently for the first time as part of a Werner Herzog season at the ICA in London and absolutely loved it. What is most incredible about the whole ordeal is Dieter Dengler's positivity. He recalls the most horrendous tales quite happily and easily even though they must have caused him unimaginable pain. He has a terrific strength of character that is quite hard to believe.

Bearing this in mind, in the showing I watched a lot of the audience members openly laughed out loud while Dieter described what he went through. I can understand as it seemed as though every possible thing that could go wrong did go wrong which can be funny in a very dark kind of way. However it's Dieter's attitude that seemed to make it okay to laugh as he told his story with such ease. As Dieter himself said, it was the most exciting time of his life. If he was more sombre and morose than I'm sure the audience wouldn't have reacted in this way, just something I found quite strange.

This also makes it hard to define what genre it is:
Drama? Yes.
Documentary? Yes.
Fiction? They stylised parts Herzog created.
Tragedy? Hmm, maybe
Comedy? In part.

Maybe that isn't something to worry about as long as you are interested by the film and Dieter's story.

[–] playwrite2000 17 years ago

Genre? Life!

[–] tmaj48 17 years ago

I don't quite get the comedy elements; I wonder what the audience was
laughing at, unless it's the kind of nervous laughter you experience when
you've just witnessed something terrible and don't know how else to react.
I found it particularly disturbing that Herzog had him re-enact some of his
experiences (having his hands tied up and being led through the woods, etc.)
and wondered if Dengler readily agreed to this,or if Herzog was trying to
wrench some stronger emotional reactions out of him.
At the time the documentary was made, had Dengler already been diagnosed
with ALS? Did this play some part in his willingness to take part in the
documentary? Would the effort of making this film have aggravated his condition?
Just wondering, if anyone knows.

[–] Krustallos 16 years ago

No, it's the "everything that could go wrong did go wrong" that causes the laughter. Like the old joke "they said 'relax - things could be worse' - so I did relax and things did get worse". I can't actually remember whether people laughed when I saw it, but comedy and tragedy are very closely related in the way they work, the combination of the inevitable, the unexpected and the ironic.

I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.

[–] willson_x 13 years ago

I dont get why everyone is so preoccupied with WHY people were laughing, WHAT genre is this? these are stupid questions, and if that effect is what this incredible once in a lifetime documentary did to you, then you should have more questions about your brain and the way it works. Who cares about the psychological effect it had on the audience? leave that up to the psychologists.
What I was asking afterwards was why arent I as strong as this man? I am going to be strong as thats what this world needs. Things like that need answering to, there is no greater truth behind an answer to a question like "What genre is this?", but only to questions from the heart, and only you know the answer, you either know the answer right away when it reveals itself to you, or you dont,but dont spend the rest of your life being detached and yet still wondering what the question or the answer is.