MovieChat Forums > Echos aus einem düsteren Reich (1990) Discussion > the last minutes

the last minutes

posted 18 years ago by russell1nash
7 replies | jump to latest

If you're interested in what made a dictator tick, this one is 110% worth it!
It's also interesting to note that Bokassa "didn't make it on his own", but with the help of his uranium-hungry French friends... And that a dictator will never let you forget that he was once your partner...
Herzog's genius doesn't disappoint (when did it ever... :), esp in drawing in vivid colors Bokassa's cartoon-like personality.
The last 2-3 minutes are indeed difficult to watch, being some of the most powerful images of complete corruption that i ever saw: just as Bokassa did all he could to mimic what he perceived to be a superior culture (i.e., French)... well, you should watch the movie to see what i'm referring to, because Herzog did a brilliant coda and i'm not gonna be the one who spoils it!:)

But I DON'T think of you.
(Howard Roark)

[–] prologuez 17 years ago

yes, this is pretty disturbing documentary

why did the host become so upset in the end?

[–] numberonealcove 17 years ago

Same reason most of us did when we first watched; there's just something so unbearably melancholy about that last scene.

Nothing left except Clorox bottles and plastic fly swatters with red dots on them!

[–] prologuez 17 years ago

yeah, i know, i can't really explain what it is though

[–] fedaykin666 15 years ago

I didn't find it melancholic at all. Though I wonder if the image of the smoking chimpanzee, which Goldsmith insisted should be the last scene, was meant to have racist connotations, the dark-skinned mimicking ape perhaps referring to black people. Or perhaps just Bokassa?

[–] gilezuk 17 years ago

Definitely a compelling last few minutes. Recommended.

[–] Zero_Point_Zero 15 years ago

I'm just about to see this one and will get back to you. He definitely has a way of ending a film in beautiful/devastating ways!

[–] Innsmouth 7 years ago

It was an absolutely brilliant scene. Overall a rather average movie, at least for Herzog's high standards, but the last scene was one of the best captured moments in documentary filmaking. Brilliance.

Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBWDzkqEPY