mondojohnson

It has only been in the last couple of years that I have discovered Werner Herzog. He has definitely landed a place in my top 10 filmmakers list (for whatever that’s worth). Since seeing Grizzly Man a while back, I have been ordering Herzog’s catalog from Blockbuster; and each new film I see only increases my admiration.

Even Dwarfs Started Small takes place in a fevery alternate reality, in the same way that Cronenberg & Lynch films do. It is the story of a band of little people who have anarchically taken over their “institution” (a mental hospital?), which seems sandblasted and remote, miles from anywhere. Mangy barnyard animals roam around, and whatever plant life there is seems either sunbaked or dead.

The little people (there are no “big” ones in the film, by the way) have imprisoned the “president” in an office, where he in turn has imprisoned “Pepe”, who is tied to a chair. Pepe never talks, he only looks up to the skylight and laughs.

In fact, laughter is the main soundtrack of the film — but it is far from joyful. It is the maniacal laughter of a mob, made all the more disturbing by its unusual pitch (despite the title, the cast are not dwarves: they are Munchkin-like midgets, with that strange helium voice). The laughter is also mostly forced, which Herzog doesn’t conceal. The final shot of the film shows “Hombre” laughing and flailing his arms at a kneeling camel. He abruptly interrupts this laughter on occasion to cough into his sleeve, after which he resumes the insane guffawing. It is this image more than any others that has haunted me.

I read in the DVD notes that Herzog made this film after having been imprisoned in Cameroon (or somewhere — don’t quote me). He said that Even Dwarfs… was meant to convey the odd essence of that experience. He also said that it remains his most disturbing film (and he’s not kidding).

Not for everyone — kinda film-schooly — but right up my alley.