Werner Herzog's "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga" is comprised of footage shot for another documentary by Russian director Dmitry Vasykov. Vasykov's film, roughly four hours long, detailed the lives of trappers living in the Siberian wilderness. Impressed with Vasykov's material, Herzog reassembled the footage, added his own structure and voice over narration.
"We are all killers and accomplices," one trapper says, "even those who are kind hearted." The rest of the film crawls its way through material familiar to Herzog fans. We watch as tiny men struggle to survive in the wild and struggle to stay sane amidst a Nature which threatens to suffocate. Herzog's trappers spend much of their time alone, at war and stuck in an ongoing cycle in which they fight the elements. Each potion of the year seems spent preparing for the next.
There are some moments of humour, like one scene in which a ridiculous politician visits the Taiga, but for the most part Herzog's customary absurdity is absent. Likewise, though there are some sublime sequences (night time shots of a snow-capped village, for example), the majority of the film lacks Herzog's unique eye. This is understandable, as Herzog shot no footage himself.
Some have found Herzog's portrayal of the Siberian wilderness to be cosy and romantic, but this is to misread the film. The "Happy People" of Herzog's title is partially ironic, his film focusing on a kind of tired drudgery. Locals are alcoholics, there is no paid work, men are separated from their families and the trappers live solitary lives seemingly torn from the Myth of Sisyphus. Perhaps only Western eyes can romanticise what Herzog shows here; his characters show no signs of pursing material possessions, are far removed from all pop culture trappings and are busy clinging to skills and traditions which seem on the verge of being lost to time. To some, this conveys a very specific form of nostalgia.
On another level, though, the film's title is very sincere. These trappers are men locked in a kind of Herzogian "natural state", free from modern neuroses, modern wants, manufactured desires and content with the fruits of their labour, their living conditions and their lots in life. They don't moan, but knuckle down and get on with things. Herzog challenges our notions of contentment and happiness on one hand, whilst also deglamorising a kind of fashionable survivalism on the other.
7.9/10 – One of Herzog's more conventional documentaries. Incidentally, the film features a relative of famed Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky. Worth one viewing.
"We are all killers and accomplices," one trapper says, "even those who are kind hearted." The rest of the film crawls its way through material familiar to Herzog fans. We watch as tiny men struggle to survive in the wild and struggle to stay sane amidst a Nature which threatens to suffocate. Herzog's trappers spend much of their time alone, at war and stuck in an ongoing cycle in which they fight the elements. Each potion of the year seems spent preparing for the next.
There are some moments of humour, like one scene in which a ridiculous politician visits the Taiga, but for the most part Herzog's customary absurdity is absent. Likewise, though there are some sublime sequences (night time shots of a snow-capped village, for example), the majority of the film lacks Herzog's unique eye. This is understandable, as Herzog shot no footage himself.
Some have found Herzog's portrayal of the Siberian wilderness to be cosy and romantic, but this is to misread the film. The "Happy People" of Herzog's title is partially ironic, his film focusing on a kind of tired drudgery. Locals are alcoholics, there is no paid work, men are separated from their families and the trappers live solitary lives seemingly torn from the Myth of Sisyphus. Perhaps only Western eyes can romanticise what Herzog shows here; his characters show no signs of pursing material possessions, are far removed from all pop culture trappings and are busy clinging to skills and traditions which seem on the verge of being lost to time. To some, this conveys a very specific form of nostalgia.
On another level, though, the film's title is very sincere. These trappers are men locked in a kind of Herzogian "natural state", free from modern neuroses, modern wants, manufactured desires and content with the fruits of their labour, their living conditions and their lots in life. They don't moan, but knuckle down and get on with things. Herzog challenges our notions of contentment and happiness on one hand, whilst also deglamorising a kind of fashionable survivalism on the other.
7.9/10 – One of Herzog's more conventional documentaries. Incidentally, the film features a relative of famed Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky. Worth one viewing.