Werner Herzog

This week presented a unique opportunity to attend a film screening and discussion with film director Werner Herzog.
I had been anticipating this event for a while having seen two of his movies, “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and “Grizzly Man” so with a midterm the next day, I decided to study all afternoon. Eager for dinner, I stumbled out of the library and started walking towards the dining hall about an hour before the event started when I noticed that a cue of people had formed that stretched across the Dimple. I immediately forgot I was hungry and hopped on line, calling my friends to come over.
Sure enough, the chapel was packed to the brim with Wheaton students and professors, as well as people from the community, and students from all over the area. People came from all over to be able to be the 3rd audience to view Herzog’s new film for free.
Herzog gave a modest yet frank appraisal of his documentary, stating the difference between “Encounters at the End of the World” and what he called “another movie about penguins”(March of the Penguins?). Herzog became fascinated with the beautiful vistas and landscapes of Antarctica while doing post production on “Grizzly Man.” His film painted complex and compelling portraits of the men and women who are compelled to make strides in science and thus occupy the McMurdo research station. With a sense of humor he presents the many characters who have seemingly lost and found themselves on the vast continent. For example, a trained linguist who came to Antarctica (a place with no languages) and scoffs at treehuggers who idly stand by as languages become extinct-the reason for which he had to throw out his entire dissertation. Though the linguist is a bit of a ludicrous character, you’d never know it because Herzog’s wit litters the dialogue but never belittles their stories. Indeed, the people who occupy Antarctica are an interesting sort, and the focus is really on them rather than the penguins.
The audience was solemn throughout, and people still poured in and sat on the floors of our cramped chapel.
After the film, Herzog opened up the floor to questions and entertained a wide range of inquiries. To my delight, he talked extensively of how he came across the idea behind “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” the challenges he faced while shooting the film, and discussed parallels of his new film to “Grizzly Man.”
In the past, Wheaton has hosted film directors of the like (such as Richard Linklater) and I anticipate more interesting people coming through Wheaton. Seeing these types of events come to fruition shatters any notion of Wheaton’s supposed insulation and expands the reaches of middle-of-nowhere Norton.