by Paul Barry
Having directed a documentary myself and dealt with the unpredictable nature of interviewee responses, I see how this particular set of people would be even harder to dig into the real lives of. I know it is impossible to ever be entirely objective, but the best documentaries do their best to flush out bias at every step, because they never know what the real story will be. From the sounds of it, another reviewer says that Herzog spoke of how he wished to frame the doco from the beginning. Clearly the subjects didn’t help him out and so the film took a different turn.
His leading questions and putting of words into their mouths could be done without, but then it wouldn’t be a Herzog film. Herzog’s insistence in Grizzly Man that a recording should be destroyed rather than terrify the mourner is clear evidence of his clumsy fingerprints all over the documentaries he creates. Into the Abyss and Grizzly Man are more documentaries delving into the psyche of Werner Herzog; bears and inmates simply provide the catalysts for his journey.
However, this does not bother me. A portrait of unrepentant killers is less interesting to me than one of a devoted philanthrope who, looking into the abyss, adds a twist to the old adage and actually sees himself smiling back, saying: “Don’t jump”.
by Paul Barry
