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The
White Diamond
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German director Werner Herzog first made his international reputation with narrative films about crazed, visionary men devoted to vast, adventurous, risk-taking follies – like the imperial conquests shown in Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) or the plan to stage opera in the Amazon in Fitzcarraldo (1982). From the beginning, however, Herzog also pursued the same themes in documentary form – often in ingenious ways, finding individuals who mirrored his fictional characters, and creating situations where the filmmaker, too, was implicated in the risk-taking. That most of these documentaries occurred in the depths of jungles, on cliff sides or in the midst of blinding snowstorms only clinched the impression that life was obediently imitating a Herzog movie. It has been almost twenty years since Herzog has managed to make an entirely successful, acclaimed fiction film. But his documentary work has gone from strength to strength. It is little wonder that he currently plans to turn his best non-fiction film, Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), into a narrative movie. The White Diamond, made for the BBC, is a minor Herzog documentary, although unmistakeably his. Recalling some of Errol Morris' work, it delves into the peculiar mindset of an obsessed scientist and inventor, Graham Dorrington. This man's dream is to build and fly a helium-filled aircraft across the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana – a dream fuelled by memories of mankind's abandoned attempts at such means of flight, as well as a personal tragedy that occurred during his previous attempt. That tragedy involved a famous wildlife cameraman, Dieter Plage. This is where Herzog steps in: there must be a cameraman on board the aircraft on its maiden voyage, and he will be the one to take the risk this time, alongside Dorrington at the controls. It is an entertaining documentary but nothing revelatory, content to deliver the usual Herzog mix of lush landscape views, earnest voice-over musings and intense classical music. As usual in his work these days, Herzog works hard to balance his abiding obsession with white, imperial adventurers with more compassionate and respectful glimpses of indigenous cultures. MORE Herzog: Where the Green Ants Dream © Adrian Martin September 2005 |
