June 1

Lessons Of Darkness

(1992) The Fires of Kuwait, as Herzog's camera alternately joins fire fighters attacking well-head flames or floats above the devastation, like an alien floating above "a strange planet on which only bacteria, scorpions, and cockroaches can survive." "An evocation of hell on earth. Herzog's own hushed, awestruck voice intones the poetic narration, while the likes of Wagner, Mahler, Verdi and Pärt are enlisted to furnish an epic, elegiac musical backdrop." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London). "A masterpiece." - J. Hoberman.