Always beware of films whose top-billed actor only appears for half the movie. Doubtlessly you've seen the posters splaying Tim Roth's name on top; you've seen the DVD cover showing Tim Roth exclusively; you've seen the previews that lead you to believe T.R. is the man. Well, let's clear this up right now... It's a 2-hour movie, and the top-billed actor is in less than 50 mins of it.
The rest of the film features what appear to be extras forced into leading roles. And their contrived performances and contrived lines are made all the more mediocre when contrasted against Roth's powerful, Mephistophelian presence. Still, he manages to carry the entire troupe (much like the story of the Jewish hero who supposedly carries the entire weight of his powerless flock), but without him the movie crumbles.
So if you must watch this film, start at the 30min mark, and shut it off at around 1hr 20min or whenever Tim makes his last scene. In the scenes in between when he leaves the screen you can get up and fix yourself a sammich.
Now let's get on Herzog's case for a minute. The man infuriates me, because his early career brought us masterpieces like "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre" (one of my top 13 films of all time) but after Klaus Kinski left the picture, Herzog's efforts have been one dud after another, slowly sinking into a morass of incoherent ramblings. It becomes very apparent that Herzog is nothing without his "better half"--an electrifying lead actor such as Kinski or, as I had hoped, Roth.
But instead, Herzog attempts to fly on his own and fails. He evidently does not know how to mold actors as a director should, otherwise we would not have been subjected to such amateur performances as we see here. I don't believe these people were bad actors; they just had no direction. And the inane lines they were saying--! I don't know if it's the language barrier or what, but Herzog should really stick to German scripts.
I could get into finer criticisms about uneven camera-work (such as Herzog's rare indulgence in using cranes, dollies and zooms which contrast abruptly with his trademark hand-held shots), or i could expose some terribly sappy plot twists (like a sudden, awkward romance that culminates in a bizarre orchestra appearing out of nowhere), or I could really lay into Herzog for ostensibly trying to tell a tale of Jewish heroism whilst portraying "common Jews" to be impotent, apathetic sheep (unless that was his intent? I'm not sure), but for one reason or another I found half of this movie to be almost unbearably lame.
If you're a fan of Herzog-Kinski, then make no mistake... The magic is gone.
The rest of the film features what appear to be extras forced into leading roles. And their contrived performances and contrived lines are made all the more mediocre when contrasted against Roth's powerful, Mephistophelian presence. Still, he manages to carry the entire troupe (much like the story of the Jewish hero who supposedly carries the entire weight of his powerless flock), but without him the movie crumbles.
So if you must watch this film, start at the 30min mark, and shut it off at around 1hr 20min or whenever Tim makes his last scene. In the scenes in between when he leaves the screen you can get up and fix yourself a sammich.
Now let's get on Herzog's case for a minute. The man infuriates me, because his early career brought us masterpieces like "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre" (one of my top 13 films of all time) but after Klaus Kinski left the picture, Herzog's efforts have been one dud after another, slowly sinking into a morass of incoherent ramblings. It becomes very apparent that Herzog is nothing without his "better half"--an electrifying lead actor such as Kinski or, as I had hoped, Roth.
But instead, Herzog attempts to fly on his own and fails. He evidently does not know how to mold actors as a director should, otherwise we would not have been subjected to such amateur performances as we see here. I don't believe these people were bad actors; they just had no direction. And the inane lines they were saying--! I don't know if it's the language barrier or what, but Herzog should really stick to German scripts.
I could get into finer criticisms about uneven camera-work (such as Herzog's rare indulgence in using cranes, dollies and zooms which contrast abruptly with his trademark hand-held shots), or i could expose some terribly sappy plot twists (like a sudden, awkward romance that culminates in a bizarre orchestra appearing out of nowhere), or I could really lay into Herzog for ostensibly trying to tell a tale of Jewish heroism whilst portraying "common Jews" to be impotent, apathetic sheep (unless that was his intent? I'm not sure), but for one reason or another I found half of this movie to be almost unbearably lame.
If you're a fan of Herzog-Kinski, then make no mistake... The magic is gone.