EP.218 - WERNER HERZOG
Adam talks with legendary German filmmaker, writer and actor Werner Herzog about AI poetry, email etiquette, why LA is like ancient Rome, the Japanese soldier who hid in the jungle believing the 2nd World War was still happening for 29 years, the value of therapy and whether trauma and conflict are best dealt with or buried, what his problem is with David Blaine and why someone needs to send Werner into orbit.
This conversation was recorded remotely on 8th December 2023
Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support and conversation editing.
Podcast artwork by Helen Green
Music and jingles by Adam Buxton, except pan-pipe clip from Aguirre, L'Acrime di Rei by Popul Vuh
RELATED LINKS
SCALA!!! Documentary review - 2023 (TIME OUT)
BFI PLAYER (FREE TRIAL)
ADAM BUXTON ON GET SHIRTY PODCAST - 2024 (HARDMAN AND HEMMING WEBSITE)
WERNER HERZOG IS VOICING A POETRY COLLECTION WRITTEN ENTIRELY BY AN AI - 2023 (DAZED)
TEENAGERS' MATHS AND READING SKILLS ARE DROPPING SHARPLY (ACCORDING TO 2022 'PISA' TEST) - 2023 (WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM)
DOMITABLE MYTH: THREE DEPICTIONS OF JAPANESE HOLDOUT SOLDIER by A.E.Hunt - 2023 (INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION)
Werner Herzog at Melrose Podcasts in Los Angeles, Adam in Norfolk 8th December, 2023
LESSONS OF DARKNESS Directed by Werner Herzog
Retreating from Kuwait after the first Gulf War, the Iraqi army sets fire to the country's oil fields. In this documentary, filmmaker Werner Herzog films the raging flames while narrating from the perspective of a confused alien visitor, musing on the strangeness of the landscape. As the fires burn, helicopter shots display the extent of the damage. On the ground, firefighters do their best to control things, while Kuwaiti women recount atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqis.