poe426 Francisco da Silva (Klaus Kinski), known as the bandit Cobra Verde, muses wistfully: "I long to go forth from here to another world." Barefoot and penniless, he resorts to robbery whenever the opportunity presents itself and villagers flee at the sight of him. At a slave auction, he intercepts a young slave trying to flee. "Don't run away," he tells the man: "It'll only be worse for you." HOW it could be worse is never really explained, but da Silva's handling of the situation so impresses a sugar plantation owner that he hires da Silva to be his overseer on the spot. Da Silva promptly knocks up the man's three young mulatto daughters. This leads to his "assignment" to an abandoned Brazilian fortress on the West coast of Africa. It's reckoned that he won't survive there because the slave trade is being interrupted on the high seas by British ships and because the Africans themselves have tired of doing (dirty) business with White Men. He begins to amass slaves for shipment, only to find that his shipments are being hijacked by the very men who sent him to the island. He is captured by a tribe of Africans and prepared for execution: his face is painted black (because the Africans "can't kill a White Man") and he's trussed up and delivered to the local King for Final Judgement. He's (obviously) upset: "In this place, the dead are more alive than the living." The night before his execution, he's rescued by rebels led by the "insane" Prince of the same tribe that wants to kill him and is put in charge of training a (topless) female army of "Amazons" to overpower the feckless male tribesmen. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC was never THIS graphic...) COBRA VERDE is an outstanding piece of filmmaking (par for the course for Herzog) and manages to deal with a touchy subject far more effectively than any other movie I've seen about same (slavery). While it's uncomfortable, indeed, to see Kinski leering at some of the (topless) young girls who come out to sing for him, it's well within the bounds of believability. It's one of the Truest moments in the movie, an unabashed look into the Dark Heart of us all. "Slavery is an element of the human heart," Kinski observes: "To our ruin!" The ending, in which a young man horribly disfigured by polio dogs Kinski's heels as he seeks to leave the island, is the perfect denouement.

Armand a Herzog film. same rules, same message, same Kinski. but different for the manner to explore levels of solitude. for the African frame. maybe, for splendid end. the key is deep science of Kinski to use character possibilities. to create , step by step, not an image but symbol of soul desert. the mixture of art and craziness, the passion, the look, the inspired science of Herzog to transform each scene in part of an ash circle, the large and stormy touches who transforms the plot in heart of a parable, the hero, out of classic definition, the atmosphere, all represents not exactly ingredients/parts/virtues of film but resurrection of a gray romanticism and its marks for define solitude, fall and search of existence sense who exit from artistic formulas.

marcusfernandes My vote for COBRA VERDE was 7 out 10 because is HERZOG...That's all. It is really hard to see blonde deep blue eyes KINSKY playing a Brazilian bandit from the northeast region,Bahia or Pernanbuco,sometimes during the film it is not clear from which Brazilian state COBRA VERDE comes from.It burdens me a lot to see the bandit "jumping" from somewhere in the countryside of the Brazilian wastelands to a typical Andine village barefoot to find a strange bar-owner who speaks perfect German and then... come back again to Brazil to find Brazilian/Portuguese rich farm-owner who speaks...perfect German.There are two aspects in the film that amazed me ,the wonderful African landscapes astonishing well filmed and the historical background.There is no doubt,the last few minutes are,in my opinion,the best ever filmed.In conclusion,COBRA VERDE is the worst HERZOG i have seen until now, but...still is HERZOG.

Cosmoeticadotcom It is a good film, but not nearly on par with such classics as Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, Nosferatu, Phantom Of The Night, nor Fitzcarraldo, and it is a film even Herzog has expressed dissatisfaction with. The film was written by Herzog, who adapted it from a novel by Bruce Chatwin, The Viceroy Of Ouidah; but it's probably the least affecting screenplay of the major Herzog-Kinski films, as well as the film the two made together that has the least for Kinski to do- i.e- strut his stuff and dominate whole scenes. Things move far too quickly and illogically, there is little explanation of scenes and events, and little in the way of character development, in either the lead character or the few minor characters that say anything. The cinematography is- as usual, excellent, and there are often quotable snippets of dialogue, but, as a whole, the film fails to capture the imagination the way the above named films do. Cobra Verde (the character as written- not Kinski's superb acting) is simply not that compelling a figure, for he has no grand divide within him. He is a brute and a scoundrel, and little more. After this film, Kinski and Herzog had a final falling out, and Kinski died a few years later…. Kinski shows he is a great actor throughout the film. Cobra Verde declares that he does not trust shoes, women, horses, and little else, and has that glower that only Kinski could do. That alone is mesmerizing enough. Had only there been more such moments in this hour and fifty minute film the film may have achieved greatness, but as the main character is never fully realized and the narrative is patchwork- at best, the film is merely a good but uneven work of art. Yet, despite this, a little perspective is needed, for a flawed film by Werner Herzog is significantly better than most any other film a lesser filmmaker will make. By mortal standards, this is not a bad film, at all, but from this great filmmaker and his legendary star- who together left three indisputable masterpieces: Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, Nosferatu, Phantom Of The Night, and Fitzcarraldo, as well as the excellent and enigmatic Woyzeck, it is a bit of a disappointment. Too often it steals the best ideas from earlier and better Herzog films, and never reinvigorates them adequately to suit their inclusion in this film's cosmos. Perhaps it is this knowledge that is behind Herzog's final disappointment with his own film. If so, he is correct in his assessment, and that very awareness is the reason Herzog is such a great artist, for understanding greatness is a deeper and rarer thing than achieving it, for, as I have said, 'Greater than transcendence is its recognition.' Herzog has done both in his career, although only one shall have to suffice in Cobra Verde.