Leofwine_draca THE WHITE DIAMOND is another Werner Herzog documentary with the film-maker doing what he does best: chronicling the efforts of a passionate, some might say obsessed, outsider to fulfil his plans in a hostile jungle environment. This one sees a British engineer chasing his lifetime ambition of flying his self-made airship above a huge South American waterfall.The premise is straightforward but as usual Herzog uses it as a mere basis to explore his true obsessions. Death is a subject which hangs heavy over the production throughout, while the beauty of nature comes to light in some exemplary cinematography. I particularly enjoyed the way that some Guyanan locals become important to the story; their interviews are a highlight. The scenes of the floating airship have an ethereal quality to them, familiar from the likes of FITZCARRALDO. As usual, it's the human interest that makes this documentary so moving, so engrossing to watch, and another feather in the cap of the celebrated director.

Tom Gooderson-A'Court Werner Herzog once again goes back to the South American Rainforrest, the setting of his feature films Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde. This time Herzog is in Guyana, one of the less known countries of the continent. A small country, with just 700,000 inhabitants, Guyana shares more in common both historically and culturally with the Caribbean Islands than with its giant neighbours to the south. Herzog is in Guyana to meet Dr Graham Dorrington, an aeronautical engineer who is in the jungle to test his latest airship. The story is tinged with sadness though as in a previous test ten years earlier, Dorrington's cinematographer Dieter Plage was killed.The film begins with a brief history of aviation and in particular the history of the airship. Herzog discusses the rapid rise and fall of the popularity of airships before and after the Hindenburg disaster. Herzog first meets Dorrington in his lab in London. He is an excitable and intelligent man with grand ambitions of soaring above the jungle canopy, capturing its unspoiled beauty and collecting samples that could be used in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Dorrington is eccentric but focused and it is obvious how much the expedition and test means to him. The tragedy of ten years earlier is only briefly mentioned and leaves the viewer hanging.Once the action moves to the jungle, the expedition is hit with various problems. There is a bad omen from the outset as a huge storm draws in when the ship is first inflated. Lightning is seen cracking in the background, beneath and deep grey sky. There are more problems as the ship suffers seven technical faults on its maiden flight and the excitable and enthusiastic Dorrington looks like a broken man by the mid point of the film. It is during these initial tests that Herzog meets the stat of the show, a local man named Marc Anthony Yhap. Yhap and other local men were hired to help carry the equipment but when the craft is first inflated, Herzog notices him starring up in wonder at the 'White Diamond' as he calls it. Herzog uses a trick that served him well on Into the Abyss which is to leave the camera rolling once a person has stopped talking. This pressures them into continuing and means they often reveal more. Yhap, despite no formal education speaks with great wisdom and authority and tells the story of his families migration to Europe in the 1960's, leaving him alone. He tells Herzog how much he misses them and hopes that his mother in Spain is able to watch the film. It's a poignant moment.Once the problems have been ironed out and the airship is flying, Herzog is able to capture some quite extraordinary visuals of the jungle canopy. I watch a lot of Nature Documentaries but this is some of the most incredible footage I've seen. There is one shot in which a camouflaged frog appears to be playing hide and seek with the camera, slowly moving around a branch as the camera follows. It is simply stunning. The most beautiful shot of the film though is thanks to Yhap who takes Herzog through the jungle where he is able to see an entire waterfall through a single drop of rain. It is a majestic sight. A later shot which shows symmetry of the waterfall and thousands of swooping Swallows is also masterful.The relief on Dorrington's face after his successful flight is palpable. It looks as though a huge weight has been lifted and it is only then, an hour into the film that he reveals to the camera what happened on that fateful day, ten years ago. The story is heartbreaking and makes you realise why Dorrington has come back to complete this test.This is among Herzog's best documentaries. He has managed to find another engaging story with a single man facing danger and battling against the odds (a constant Herzogian theme). The visuals are stunning and the narrative is informative and exciting. In Dorrington and Yhap, Herzog has discovered two more remarkable characters and the world is better for having them documented.www.attheback.blogspot.com

frankenbenz Werner Herzog's The White Diamond is further evidence the German director possesses a one-of-a-kind wonderment and curiosity with the world around him. No other filmmaker possesses Herzog's child-like innocence and this is precisely why no other filmmaker can capture the bizarre and touching, magic-realism common in many Herzog films.WD is familiar Herzog ground, this time his fixation with obsessed eccentrics leads his lens to Dr. Graham Dorrington, a man determined to build a zeppelin-like flying machine to explore the seldom seen canopy of the South American rain forest. Complicating matters, Dorrington's impossible dream is haunted by a tragic accident that cost his colleague (biologist) Dieter Plage his life. There's no question Herzog himself is an obsessed eccentric and we're witness to this when he shares screen time with Dorrington, each of them battling to make their vision a reality. In one telling scene we watch as Herzog's undaunted will and laughably adolescent logic trumps Dorrington's overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility. As this scene plays out and things do go wrong, you realize Herzog has no problem sacrificing everything - including his life- to make his film. You can't help but think of Fitzcarraldo and how powerful (and possibly insane) the will of this man truly is. As he's strapped into the zeppelin before its maiden flight, Herzog grips his camera and defines his unwavering faith by declaring: "In cinema we trust."WD isn't without its flaws, one of which is Herzog's overzealous lust to portray the Guyanese guide Marc Anthony as a mythical sage. Marc is a peaceful and serene man, but Herzog's camera lingers on him to a point where an act is coaxed out of Marc, one not nearly as profound as Herzog wishes it to be. But there are so many other moments of sheer magic that you can't help but excuse Herzog for the same naïveté that more often than not, elevates his films to a special place. Perhaps the most poetic moment in the film is when another of the local guides dances atop a rock formation adjacent to the mystical and daunting Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana. These same falls boast a legend that no man has ever explored behind the falls and when Herzog manages to film images of this no- man's land, he opts to not show the images out of respect for the local mythology. Few filmmakers would ever show such reverence for preserving myth than someone so deft at creating them himself.http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/

mstomaso Once again, the most adventurous documentary film maker of our time returns to his most beloved subjects and his most beloved setting. The White Diamond is about an obsessed man who wants to conquer a relatively unexplored frontier in the South American rain forest. Yet this is no sequel or remake of the amazing Herzog film Aguirre. Rather, in The White Diamond, Herzog returns to his beloved rain forest to tell the story of Dr. Graham Dorrington's struggle to build and fly an ultra-light helium airship as a way to explore the resources and ecology of the South American rain forest canopy.Unlike many of Herzog's recent films, The White Diamond has an irrepressibly upbeat tone, as Herzog seems - as he can seemingly only do in South America - to celebrate the simultaneous absurdity and brilliance of the human spirit. Like Little Dieter, Fitzcarraldo, Rescue Dawn and Kaspar Hauser, The White Diamond is about remarkable people who do remarkable things. And like almost all of Herzog's portfolio, the photography and soundtrack are magnificent.Herzog appears quite often in this film, and, as he has done frequently in recent times, gives us a bit more of a view of his interior world. Unlike Grizzly Man, however, this is not the dark, constrained hostility of the great director's view of life, but rather the hopeful Herzog who is interested in what makes people tick. And, unlike many of his films, he seems to like what he sees this time.The White Diamond occasionally tangentializes away from the main story to talk to us about things that inspire the local inhabitants of the rain forest where the story takes place. A mysterious cave is explored, but the mystery is preserved in deference to the wishes of a local tribe. The poet philosopher of Dorrington's team is a local Rastafarian herbalist who finds tranquility and joy in everything, but whose rooster is his major inspiration. And then there are Herzog and Dorrington themselves, who are a whole different story. Some of Dorrington's incessant commentary can be a little annoying, but I believe Herzog left it in the film to give us a clear sense of the man himself - for which I can not fault the director.Literally and spiritually uplifting, The White Diamond is a truly lovely film which uses setting and story to create a lasting impression. Like most of Herzog's films, it bears intense, wide-awake, and repeated scrutiny, and is worth thinking about afterward.