Themes: Unlikely Criminals, Fighting the System, Military Life
Main Cast: Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Wolfgang Reichmann, Willy Semmelrogge, Josef Bierbichler
Release Year: 1978
Country: WG
Run Time: 82 minutes
Plot
Controversial German director Werner Herzog helmed this cinematization of Woyzeck, playwright Georg Büchner's anti-military tale of depersonalization run amok. Utilizing the more grotesque elements of German expressionism, combined with his own sense of the outrageous, Herzog plunges us directly into the middle of his story of a soldier (Klaus Kinski) who is conditioned to be an unthinking killing machine through lab experimentation. His one vestige of humanity is his love for the beautiful Marie (Eva Mattes), but even this is corrupted when he is goaded into murdering the girl. An earlier film version of Woyzeck, filmed in 1947, was released in the U.S. in 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The least known of the five collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski is consistent with their other works (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, Cobra Verde) in dramatizing the extreme acts of a desperate man. Here, however, Kinski's character is neither an ambitious conquistador, a hungry vampire, nor a visionary businessman, but a soldier who, at the age of 40, is still a lowly barber. Tormented at every turn by his commanding officer, a local doctor, and his faithless wife (Eva Mattes), Franz Woyzeck is a walking time bomb, and if the cover art on the film's video edition didn't give it away, the concluding murder is foretold by the victim, who declares, "I'd rather have a knife in my body than your hands on me." Herzog is true to playwright Georg Büchner's unique blend of naturalism and philosophical rumination. This portrait of isolation is beautifully summed up in a shot of Woyzeck stumbling through the deserted streets of the town with his newly purchased murder weapon. Although this is not one of Herzog's major works, it does deserve more attention, if only for Kinski's heartbreaking performance. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
The film's plot essentially follows that of Büchner's play.
Reception
As critics disagree upon the order Buechner intended the surviving fragments of his work to be played, it is difficult to assert whether Herzog stuck to the play. He kept to the overall plot, but of necessity, his was an interpretation of how best the scenes should be pieced together to portray it.
Production
Filming for Woyzeck in Telč, Czechoslovakia, began just five days after work on Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre had ended. Herzog used the same exhausted crew and star. The scenes were accomplished mostly in a single take, which allowed the filming to be completed in only 18 days; it was edited in just four. Herzog had planned to use Bruno S. in the title role, but he then changed his mind, considering Kinski more suitable for the part. To compensate Bruno for this disappointment, Herzog wrote the leading role in the film Stroszek especially for him.
At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, Eva Mattes won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her part in this film. Herzog was nominated for the Golden Palm.[1] In 1981, the film won the Silver Guild Film Award from the Guild of German Art House Cinemas.[2]
