Grizzly Man (2005)
Is nature the great comforter of humanity, or the inevitable destroyer of it? The answer is "yes." Timothy Treadwell is an obviously troubled guy, but Herzog takes him absolutely seriously as both someone to be admired as a hero, and pitied as a lunatic. Also interesting that Herzog admits that Treadwell himself has great talent as a fellow film-maker. The late scene where Herzog tells Treadwell's friend to destroy the audio recording of his and his girlfriend's final moments -- iconic.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Is haunting the right word? Certainly not joyous, but not at all morose either. Herzog simply films some of the first known human paintings in a cave in France. The music and sound design are absolutely stunning. Also, his only film shot in 3-D (and apparently his final one).
Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
I'll admit I'm partial to stories about isolated places like Antarctica (thanks, H.P. Lovecraft) but once again Herzog more than delivers. Simplicity is the key -- he points the camera at a group of misfit scientists and academics, chefs and engineers and divers, and asks them why they've chosen to spend significant amounts of time in such an isolated, even deadly place, away from family and friends. The answers are varied, but most of them agree life here is in many ways more edifying than anything the modern world has to offer. The star of the movie though is, of course, a doomed but freedom-loving penguin.
La Soufriere -- Waiting for an Inevitable Disaster (1977)
An early film and a short one that neatly encapsulates all of Herzog's concerns -- the violence of nature, the fleetingness of human creations (such as entire cities), the embrace of danger in the form of an active volcano that could blow at any moment. The streets are empty, but no small number of TVs and radios are still on, making for a very strange sort of apocalyptic music. At a brisk 30 minutes, a perfect gateway drug.
Stroszek (1977)
Music nerds will know that this is the film Ian Curtis watched before hanging himself. The thing is, while the ending is understandably dark, this is one of Herzog's funnier films, and very much an American one. (The first part is set up as a road movie through the US.) Capitalism is as terrible as it is absurd. The "heist" scene is pure genius, and when all else is lost who wouldn't want to bring an enormous frozen turkey along? There are worse companions out there.
Handicapped Future and Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
Clearly could have been one film, but Herzog made the right decision to split them up. The former consists primarily of interviews with disabled German children and their parents. Despite one obviously problematic mother, Herzog lets the children speak for themselves, telling us their aspirations, dreams, and desire to live as normally as possible. Things like the Nazi euthanasia program Aktion T4 were not that far in the past for these folks. Herzog is subtle though, and simply lets a disabled high school boy present an actual, anonymous letter stating that he'd have been better off if he'd been murdered at birth.
Silence and Darkness deals specifically with deaf and blind folks, both old and young. The message is simple enough -- communication between humans can be difficult, but it is never impossible. Therefore we are compelled to never allow it to become impossible. Also, disabuses us of the notion that deaf folks don't hear anything, and blind folks don't see anything. In fact, they see and hear more than the rest of us ever will.
Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
An interview with a child soldier, conscripted in Nicaragua by the Contras. While his earlier works are also explicitly anti-war / anti-militarism, this sort of minimal approach carries much more weight. Also interesting to find out that Herzog is fluent in Spanish.
Huie's Sermon (1981)
A documentary about a single Sunday morning at a black church in Brooklyn, the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Herzog is obviously entranced by the music, dancing, and energy he probably didn't experience during an austere Bavarian childhood. Also uses some tracking shots from nearby slums -- mostly burned out store fronts in the same neighborhood. (He began using this technique in the desert for 1971's Fata Morgana.) As always, don't miss the very end.
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
A cattle auction in Pennsylvania, employing what Herzog calls "the poetry of capitalism." That's it. Very much his vision of America, with a very short moment where he tries to speak German with an Amish man speaking Pennsylvania Dutch. Oddly entrancing. I think a lot of kids would love this film, just for the sheer strangeness of the auction-ese.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
The classic portrait of the simultaneous madnesses of religion and empire. Hard to distinguish them, really. They come from the same dark, insane place. My second-favorite Kinski performance.
Invincible (2001)
A rare later era feature film that I enjoy immensely, this tells the story of a Jewish strongman performing in 1930's Germany. Also a parable of sorts, as the main character defies the Nazis but also tries to warn his village of the coming Holocaust. They don't believe him. As per usual, despite some flaws getting there, an absolutely stunning ending.
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The obsession of a man who wants to superimpose European culture (an opera house) on an unforgiving jungle and an uncaring native populace. My third-favorite Kinski performance. An absolutely mad film by an equally mad director who was more than willing to risk the lives of others to fulfill his own obsessions.
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Maybe Herzog should make more straight-up genre pictures, including horror. His building of tension and dread is masterful, and maybe even borderline campy. Only 100 minutes long, but what might feel like the longest 100 minutes of your life (in a good way). Kinski shines, predictably, as evil incarnate.
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