Into the Abyss [HD]

One of 2011's Most Important Documentaries
Werner Herzog's second documentary of 2011 shows him at his least abstract. His previous doc, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, showed him experimenting with 3D and was a pretty straight-forward effort until the epilogue, but Into the Abyss is Herzog at his most focused. A rarity, he never appears onscreen and his iconic voice provides no narration, only appearing to quietly ask questions from behind the camera. Into the Abyss is populated with traditional Herzogian figures, people so delightfully weird they couldn't possibly be fiction, but the subject matter is far from delightful. Rushed into theatres after a surging interest in capital punishment, the film profiles two convicted killers, one's impending death by lethal injection, their crime, the climate of capital punishment, and those acquainted with them in various ways.

It's not Herzog's style to make the documentary equivalent of a persuasive essay and...

A Microcosm Of Violence: Class, Justice, And Humanity Filtered Through Filmmaker Werner Herzog's Perspective
Esteemed filmmaker and documentarian Werner Herzog scored with two high profile projects in 2011. First, the contemplative and reverential "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" detailed the discovery of the earliest recorded man-made paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Southern France. And, in what couldn't be a more dissimilar topic, he made "Into the Abyss." That's the thing about Herzog, though, he takes subjects of interest to him and then makes intensely personal films. In "Into the Abyss," he tackles the dissection of a decade old murder case in Conroe, Texas and follows it through to the present day execution of one of the convicted parties. At once, the piece wants to explore the details of a senseless act of violence, make a statement about class differences in society, explore the darkness inherent in humanity, and contribute an opposing argument to the death penalty debate. That's a lot of hefty goals! And although always fascinating, I'm not sure that the picture accomplishes quite...

If you think this film is about capital punishment, then you don't know Werner Herzog well enough
* Werner Herzog: "The film is not just about capital punishment or death, victims and perpetrators and executioners. It's also about the urgency of life."

This isn't an "issue" documentary, one concerned with facts and arguments. It has those things, but it is not about those things.

* "I do not do interviews. I'm not a journalist. I have no catalogue of questions. I have discourse. And I do not know where it will lead me. A goal is to look deep into the heart of ourselves."

Like most Herzog films, this was an ambitious undertaking, but it was ambitious for a different reason. "Fitzcarraldo" and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" were ambitious because of immense logistical challenges. But this film was ambitious because he was trying to look 'into the abyss' of ourselves, and especially because he was trying to look 'into the abyss' of certain cautious and unrevealing rural Texans.

* "I was fascinated by this particular crime because of its...

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