Review of Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971) by Peter F — 19 Jul 2014
Herzog makes films that are more like tones than movies. This is one of his darkest and strangest, and it is almost indecipherable beyond its anarchic sideshow spectacle. And yet, there is an otherworldly magnetism about EVEN DAWRFS STARTED SMALL that left me thinking about it for days afterward.
What Herzog is trying to bring out is that straneg "otherness" of human beings controlling a world they think was built for them and them alone. By using dwarfs only, and by creating for them a series of surroundings so strange and exaggerated and large, he forces us to see the world the way he sees it: as an alien planet, host to a race of selfish, bored, mischievous (borderline evil) and useless species of creatures, who make a lot of noise and a lot of mess.
It's really no good writing about the film, though, as its indescribable tone and manic Herzogian humor say more than any adapted analogy. See this one with an open mind, and you may be surprised at the unique doors it opens.
This review of Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971) was written by Peter F on 19 Jul 2014.
Even Dwarfs Started Small has generally received positive reviews.
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