Review of Woyzeck (1979) by Todd F — 17 Dec 2010

Woyzeck represents another stellar, almost flawless collaboration between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Based on a 19th century play, Woyzeck follows a lowly soldier who also makes extra money performing sundry tasks for his general and participating in bizarre medical experiments that require him to eat nothing but peas.

Woyzeck chaffs against the absurdly moralistic and rigid regime of the military and the experiments, and his mental state slowly begins to decay until he begins to experience schizophrenic-style delusions about the apocalypse and the underlying meaning of reality.

The film charts his slow mental decay, which is spurred on by his wife's interest in other men. Dark, harrowing, and beautiful, Woyzeck is an unforgettable, existential parable about the social forces that attempt to define our identities and our attempts to inscribe meaning upon existence.

Indeed, the film examines how the conflict between these two opposing forces can lead to madness and violence when they are not resolved. Kinski's acting and Herzog's brilliant direction make Woyzeck another masterpiece in the Herzog oeuvre and a film that you will not soon forget.