German directors are always lonely and sad, and there is always a trace of inexplicable sadness in the film, such as Wenders and the same is true of Herzog. In addition, they have the same thing in that they not only direct feature films, but also make documentaries.
Faced with Herzog's documentary "White Diamonds," scientists are also crazy. The documentary "I Am My Film", which records Herzog's film experience, is the peak of a filmmaker.
Failure to conquer nature
All animals, when they land on the ground, have the desire to move. Birds soar into the sky, needless to say. People, walking upright is the norm, flying in the sky has always been the dream of mankind. The invention of the flying machine has completely satisfied the dream of human beings chasing the stars and catching the moon.
However, human beings are not addicted, and some people want to sit on an open-top aircraft that controls speed, sit and watch the scenery, and roam the sky. This thing was really born, and that was the airship.
The beginning of "White Diamond" begins with the "Hindenburg" air disaster.
In 1938, german engineer Zeppelin designed and built the world's first giant airship, the Hindenburg, which is 240 meters long and can fly intercontinentally, with luxurious facilities from restaurants to ballrooms. What was supposed to be a wonderful air walk turned into a disaster one evening.
As hydrogen gas leaked and burned, the Hindenburg crashed to the ground high in New Jersey, USA, and the audience on the ground witnessed the instantaneous disintegration of the fire-set airship. The disaster killed 23 people.
Accidental death is only the result of man's failure to conquer nature.
Conquering the blue sky and longing for freedom to fly, scientists are indomitable. The protagonist of White Diamond is an aircraft scientist. Dr. Graham Dorrington, who works at Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom, is working on the development of a new airship that can get close to the jungle.
Dorrington's childhood dream was to be an astronaut. At the age of 14, he built a model of his own rocket, and due to the explosion of acrylic gas, he was cut off two fingers.
Dorrington thought he had designed a low-noise, easy-to-maneuver jet airship, and after experimenting, decided to go to the rainforest to try his hand. Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America with a population of less than 700,000, is a typical tropical rainforest, a fantasy paradise far away from the hustle and bustle, covered with a large number of biomes, and even the existence of unknown life forms.
Drifting clouds and waterfalls, light and shadow neon clothes. Heaven and earth have great beauty, rare animals, swifts, tree frogs, lizards, beetles, birds, a natural zoo.
A yearning for mysterious powers
The mysterious power of nature, with extraordinary dreams and pursuits. People who challenge the limits of their intellectual abilities often become the protagonists of Herzog's images. Most of these people are fanatical and lonely, competing with themselves and fighting against Providence.
He believes that the real landscape is not just a desert or a forest, it should be a landscape that expresses the inner state of mind of man, representing some kind of deeper reality.
Dr. Dorrington's Guiana Kay Waterfall airship tour has undoubtedly become an empathetic object for Hertzog's extreme scenery.
After Dorrington arrived in South America, the airship test flight was not smooth, in the face of storms, air currents, a little carelessness, the boat may be destroyed. Dorrington was not discouraged, and had the arrogance of never collecting troops if he did not achieve his goal.
In the film, he chokes up several times and tears in his eyes, recalling the accident more than a decade ago. His good friend Dieter was killed in the accident. Dieter Palegg is an excellent slow-motion photographer who has shot many wonderful works. Dorrington admired him so much that he influenced Dorrington's outlook on life.
A diamond-like airship
The name of the film "White Diamond" was given by mark Anthony, a local indigenous.
Anthony, with a red beard and speaking like a wizard, had barely stepped out of the jungle mountains. The arrival of the airship made him happy like a festival, he acted as a guide, took the airship, and the heart of the period flew out of the mountain, and many mysteries in his heart were eager to find answers.
After the wind and rain stop, the airship lifts off like a bird in the melody of praise, sometimes through the jungle, sometimes skimming over the water, the picture is quiet and magnificent. Anthony, who had worked in diamond mining, gave the airship a nice name.
Anthony was born in Spain, his mother was still there, and the brothers returned to Guyana, but lost contact. He was uneducated, and money meant nothing to him. He seems to have telepathy and knows a lot about everything in nature. He knew which plants in the dense jungle could cure diseases.
The cheerful Tony, who is sometimes lonely at heart, becomes a good companion with the hen that can lay eggs, which the locals regard as a god, and flies in a boat with it, naively imagining that his family can see the film and find him.
The "Garden of Eden" of Modern Life
Behind the Guyana Kay Waterfall Airship Tour, witness the wonderful natural surroundings.
Kay Waterfall, flying straight down, suspected that the Milky Way fell for nine days. Behind the waterfall is the home of swifts.
With incredible speed, 1 million swifts fly in formations of fish, shuttling back and forth through the secret kingdom deep within the falls. The waterfall is endless, and Anthony dreams of growing wings and flying deep into the waterfall to find out.
The local tribes have a mythical story about the waterfall: it hides a giant snake, which protects human life. Therefore, the locals believe that the depths of the waterfall are the core of their culture, and cannot be seen by outsiders, if they are seen by outsiders, the opportunity will be exhausted, and the culture of the indigenous people will disappear.
The photographer captured everything in the waterfall up close.
Herzog respected the indigenous request and was not presented in the film. The Kay Waterfall in the oversized wide-angle shot of "White Diamond", the clouds are covered with fog, the mountains are deep, and the tranquility is full of tranquility. Fear the gods and worship the gods. The totems of the indigenous people constitute the focus of the modern people's hiking "spirit elsewhere".
The untouchable beauty of Hertzog makes people feel at ease. This is the "Garden of Eden" of modern life.
epilogue:
Herzog's documentaries, in a strong documentary style, tell the dream stories of extraordinary people who wander outside the values of reality and are close to paranoia. Therefore, Hertzog's films, with allegorical labels, are a cry to modern civilization and consumer culture.