The second film to be directed by avant-garde director Werner Herzog is, without doubt, the most fucked up and bizarre film I think I’ve ever seen. That would probably be saying something if I could remember which other “surreal” films I’ve seen at the moment but I can’t (aside from most Bunuel works, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Jan Svankmeyer’s Alice and Faust etc.)

The story (which I use in the loosest possible meaning of the word) focusses on a group of dwarfs (or dwarves if you prefer) at an asylum who rebel after their “leader” has been captured. Their rebellion involves forcing the two shortest members of their posse to get married and then (fail to) consummate their marriage, burning plants, driving a truck around and around in circles, having a food fight, tormenting a pair of blind dwarfs, killing a pig, crucifying a monkey and dressing dead insects up as members of a wedding party.

Like I said, fucking bizarre.

All the actors in the film are dwarfs - even some random woman who drives by asking for directions. I’m fairly certain that at least some livestock was injured during the making of the film although hopefully not not the pig. I have no idea how much of it was scripted and how much of it was improvised although it’s probably a fairly even split.

The film defies any conventional sense of narrative although the imagery is very powerful. I gather, from reading the DVD notes (thank the Gods for special features and DVD technology!) that this film is a statement by Herzog about the way her percieved the world; an insane place full of sexual frustration, violence and, obviously, crazy little people. To be fair, that pretty much helps to make any kind of sense out of the movie.

Would I recommend this? Not unless you’re a masochist or an absolutely dedicated film lover. The only reason I put this on my LoveFilm list is because it cropped up in a list of “Five films to avoid on medication” by the novelist DBC Pierre and he says about it

Even on cannabis, or lightly depressed, Werner Herzog’s second work, in which a collection of German dwarfs and midgets run amok at an asylum in Spain to very strange music, can unhinge you. And the last minute of action proves Werner is actually aiming at this, which does nothing for your paranoia.

It was certainly interesting viewing, that’s for sure, although I’m perhaps a little too lowbrow for such artistry. I was hoping to find something that was just as unsettling but with more narrative structure - more along the lines of Davids Cronenburg and Lynch, perhaps.

DBC Pierre isn’t wrong, though, and for your edification here is the last 3 minutes of the film, courtesy of the pirates over at YouTube. It won’t spoil it for you but it probably won’t sell it to you either.