 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Salt and Fire • Year: 2016 • Country: Germany • Director: Werner Herzog • Main cast: Veronica Ferres, Michael Shannon, Gael García Bernal, Werner Herzog • Runtime: 98 minutes • Production company: Benaroya Pictures, Construction Film, & more • TRAILER |
Salt and Fire or how I throwed 98 minutes away. Salt and Fire or a nonsense from one of the considered most influential directors of cinema alive. Salt and Fire or how to shoot pointless with a steady cam. I could go on…
I try to think if it’s my fault not to understand this movie while watching it at first hour in the morning on the 4th day of the Sitges Film Festival. I try to imagine it with some beers, chips and friends. Or with nice company and popcorn. But I can’t see it differently. And then it shouldn’t be the fault of the spectator, not to be able to enjoy a movie.
Then, I try to remember, for the director’s name sake, other films of his, some that won prizes, some that became classics, his long career that put him on top of the german cinema and made him worldwide known; also, I try to think about things I’ve read about him, that somehow can help me understand a turnabout, why he’s done something so awfully pointless, or if there can be some hidden reason for it all. Could it be that he’s always been overrated? No, I wouldn’t agree. He won a name in cinema, his documentary style, and the way he brought to cinema unforgettable stories can’t be ignored… I cried with Grizzly Man (2005), and I still think it’s one of his best films. But I can’t save this movie, doesn’t matter how I look at it. Roger Ebert, an American film critic, once said that Herzog “has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular.” Well, I agree it’s a spectacular failure, but the film has nothing of spectacular.
Of course some common points with his filmography can be found, like the concern for the environment, which is the story’s departure point. What starts as a thriller with the kidnapping of a delegation of the United Nations, slowly develops into a comic absurdity with terrible dialogues, grotesque characters and scenes that make you truly wonder if they are laughing at you. Maybe it’s all about this, laughing, maybe they all where, while filming, between scenes… but even if I’m sorry not to try and think over some scenes, some potential metaphors, or to extract some kind of conclusion that let me sleep well tonight, I can’t but repeat that from my point of view, this movie is not worth watching. So painful, so unnecessary, that you will employ better your time and money watching one of his old movies or just the blockbuster of the month. And ironically, Facebook doesn’t stop reminding me that Werner Herzog teaches Filmmaking in an online class… well, my desires to join have vanished. Maybe he should go back to shoot exceptional documentaries like before.
RATE: 2/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4441150
