The 30+ Best Werner Herzog Movies & Documenatries
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1Werner HerzogAcclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica, where he finds a desolate, beautiful landscape, largely untouched by human hands, and a group of truly unique people who risk their lives to study it. Centered at McMurdo Station, the United States' largest Antarctic research center, Herzog explores the minds of the scientists willing to abandon civilization and endure volatile conditions to learn more about the continent's wildlife and awe-inspiring natural wonders.- #76 of 139 onThe Best Movies Of 2007
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2Mick Jagger, Jason Robards Jr., Klaus KinskiMy Best Fiend is a 1999 German documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog, about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski. It was released on DVD in 2000 by Anchor Bay.- #7 of 83 onThe Best Foreign Documentary Films
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- The White Diamond is a 2004 documentary film by Werner Herzog. It illustrates the history of aviation and depicts the struggles and triumphs of Graham Dorrington, an aeronautical engineer, who has designed and built a teardrop-shaped airship which he plans to fly over the forest canopies of Guyana. It features music composed by Ernst Reijseger, which was re-used in Herzog's 2005 film The Wild Blue Yonder. Most of the film focuses on Dorrington's flights near Kaieteur Falls, in Guyana. Dorrington discusses the mechanics of his flight, as well as his own struggles with uncertainty and the "heaviness" he feels after the death of the cinematographer Dieter Plage. The film also explores the Kaieteur Falls themselves, a local man named Marc Anthony Yhap, a local diamond miner, and the white-tipped swifts which roost in an inaccessible cave behind the falls. The film holds ratings of 83% on the film review aggregator websites Metacritic and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
4Bruce Spence, Norman Kaye, Wandjuk MarikaA surveying team led by Australian geologist Lance Hackett (Bruce Spence) is setting off subterranean explosions deep in the outback, searching for possible uranium mining sites. Hackett's work is interrupted by Aborigines Miliritbi (Wandjuk Marika) and Dayipu (Roy Marika), who claim that green ants dream underneath this land, and, if the insects' slumbers are interrupted, the world will come to an end. The dispute between the two sides becomes both a court case and a philosophical debate.
5John Bailey, Lena Herzog, Crispin GloverBelieving that the Loch Ness monster is a figment of the collective psyche of the Scottish people, famed avant-garde film director Werner Herzog leads a crew to Scotland, accompanied by producer Zak Penn, to make a movie about the myth, and not the monster. However, Penn has also arranged for a second film production team, led by director John Bailey, to make a documentary about the renowned and sometimes difficult Herzog. While on a boat in the middle of the lake, something unexpected happens.
6Claudia Cardinale, Mick Jagger, Klaus KinskiGerman director Werner Herzog begins work on his 1982 epic "Fitzcarraldo" but soon runs into serious setbacks, from casting problems to his own stubborn refusal to use special effects. After having to reshoot much of the film because the lead actor was recast, his crew must then haul an old-fashioned steamboat over a mountain using manpower alone. With a resolve bordering on insanity, Herzog struggles to realize his vision, vowing to see the film completed -- even if it leads to his undoing.
7Joseph Morgan, Samantha Morton, Werner HerzogMister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine. The film is an international co-production between the UK, France, Ireland, and the United States. The film features an ensemble cast of generally well-known, but some foreign, actors, including Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, Werner Herzog, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg, and Leos Carax.
8Werner HerzogRetreating from Kuwait after the first Gulf War, the Iraqi army sets fire to the country's oil fields. In this documentary, filmmaker Werner Herzog films the raging flames while narrating from the perspective of a confused alien visitor, musing on the strangeness of the landscape. As the fires burn, helicopter shots display the extent of the damage. On the ground, firefighters do their best to control things, while Kuwaiti women recount atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqis.
9Chloë Sevigny, Werner Herzog, Will OldhamJulien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 American drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The story concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloë Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as his father. Julien Donkey-Boy is the sixth film to be made under the self-imposed rules of the Dogme 95 manifesto, and the first non-European film to be made under the Dogme 95 "vow of chastity".
10Werner Herzog, Walter SteinerThe Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner is a 1974 documentary film by German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It is about celebrated ski-jumper Walter Steiner who works as a carpenter for his full-time occupation. Herzog has called it "one of my most important films."
11Werner Herzog, Henry van Lyck, Wolfgang ReichmannSigns of Life is a 1968 feature film written, directed, and produced by Werner Herzog. It was his first feature film, and his first major commercial and critical success. The story is roughly based on the short story Der Tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau, written by Achim von Arnim.
12Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens ScheitzIn a rural community, a local artist known for making brilliant glass sculptures dies without passing on to anyone the skills of his trade. Huttenbesitzer (Stefan Güttler), who owns the town's glass factory, obsessively attempts to recover the deceased artist's lost knowledge. The villagers employed by Huttenbesitzer also become bewitched by the secrets of glass. Despite the warnings of Hias (Josef Bierbichler), who claims to be a prophet, the possessed locals slowly descend into madness.
13Werner Herzog, Sheetal Sheth, Juliane KoepckeWings of Hope is a 2000 made-for-TV documentary directed by Werner Herzog. The film explores the story of Juliane Koepcke, a German Peruvian woman who was the sole survivor of Peruvian flight LANSA Flight 508 following its mid-air disintegration after a lightning strike in 1971. Herzog was inspired to make this film as he narrowly avoided taking the same flight while he was location scouting for Aguirre, Wrath of God. His reservation was canceled due to a last minute change in itinerary. In the film, Herzog and Koepcke visit the scenes of her flight, crash, and escape from the jungle. They take a flight from Lima to Pucallpa, and sit in the same row of seats where Koepcke sat during the crash. They unearth many large fragments of the plane in the jungle, and then visit the river routes where she traveled for 10 days on foot, and the small village where she was eventually found by three men, one of whom appears in the film. Wings of Hope is often seen as a companion piece or sequel to Herzog's 1997 film Little Dieter Needs to Fly, in which he retraces the steps of a German/American Navy pilot's successful escape from a POW camp during the Vietnam War.
14Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Annabella SciorraIn What Dreams May Come, we plunge into the surreal, ethereal narrative woven by director Vincent Ward. Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams), a loving husband and father, meets an untimely end in a car accident. This tragedy propels him into a stunningly vivid afterlife, where he navigates landscapes born from his own imagination. When he learns his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) is trapped in her own version of hell due to her despair, he embarks on a daring rescue mission with a tracker Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.). The film is a visual masterpiece that earned an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It's a profound exploration of love and the afterlife, with compelling performances from its leading cast.More What Dreams May Come
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15Tim Roth, Jouko Ahola, Anna Gourari"Invincible" tells the true story of Zishe Breibart, a Jewish blacksmith from eastern Poland who travels to Berlin in the 1930s to join a night club cabaret. He is billed as the world's strongest man -- a claim that is not well received by the rising Nazi party. Using his role as the modern day Sampson to defend his own people, Zishe embarks on an inevitable path to tragedy.
16Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Dennis FarinaJack Faro (Woody Harrelson) is the grandson of a casino legend and a former poker champ himself, until he lost it all, including the casino he inherited, to liquor and alimony. In order to win back his casino, Jack must enter the upcoming World Championship of Poker, where he will face stiff competition from famous players like Deuce Fairbanks (Dennis Farina) and Lainie Schwartzman (Cheryl Hines).
17Werner Herzog, Walter SteinerHow Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck is a 1976 documentary film by German director Werner Herzog, produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. It is a 44 minute film documenting the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship held in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Herzog has said that he believes auctioneering to be "the last poetry possible, the poetry of capitalism." Herzog describes the auctioneering as an "extreme language ... frightening but quite beautiful at the same time." Herzog used two of the featured auctioneers as actors in his later film Stroszek.
18Werner Herzog, Lotte H. EisnerPortrait Werner Herzog is an autobiographical short film by Werner Herzog made in 1986. Herzog tells stories about his life and career. The film contains excerpts and commentary on several Herzog films, including Signs of Life, Heart of Glass, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, Fitzcarraldo, and the Les Blank documentary Burden of Dreams. Notable is footage of a conversation between Herzog and his mentor Lotte Eisner, a photographer. In another section, he talks with mountaineer Reinhold Messner, in which they discuss a potential film project in the Himalayas to star Klaus Kinski.
19Wagner: Lohengrin: Staged by Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog, Cheryl Studer, Peter Schneider
20Werner Herzog, Edward ZentaraHard to Be a God is a joint USSR-Germany science fiction film directed by Peter Fleischmann released in 1989, based on the novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Strugatsky brothers' main request was for the director to be of Soviet origin, possibly Aleksei German. Still, against their will, Fleischmann became the director of this project. Because of Fleischmann's intractability and difficult nature, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky stopped collaborating with him and abandoned the film. As a result the final product was heavily criticized by them. This led to the 2013 film development. Grant Stevens performed the title song.
21Werner Herzog, Nikolay Nikiforovitch Siniaev, Gennady SolovievHappy People: A Year in the Taiga is a 2010 documentary film directed by Werner Herzog and Dmitry Vasyukov and produced by Herzog. The film depicts the life of the people in the village of Bakhtia along the Yenisei River in the Siberian taiga. In particular, it focuses on the trappers who hunt for fur animals like sable. It also briefly detours in to a look at the life of native Ket people. The footage in the documentary was edited from a previous television work by Vasuykov, with original production and voiceovers by Herzog. The film premiered in Germany in November 2010, had its United States premiere at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival, and the U.S. West Coast premiere on 6 March 2011 at the San Francisco Green Film Festival.
22Norman Kaye, Alyson Best, Chris HaywoodAging millionaire Charles Bremer (Norman Kaye) has very few close relationships, preferring to invest his time in his collection of flowers and art. Once a week, he pays Lisa (Alyson Best), a young model, to strip for him to classical music. Charles' dark relationship with his stern father comes to light, and, with his therapist, he struggles to make sense of human contact. A complex relationship starts to develop between Charles and Lisa, spurred by their mutual loneliness.
23Plastic Bag
Werner HerzogThis short film by American director Ramin Bahrani traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.In the end, the wayward plastic bag wafts its way to the ocean, into the tides, and out into the Pacific Ocean trash vortex — a promised nirvana where it will settle among its own kind and gradually let the memories of its maker slip away.- 24
Brennendes Herz
Werner HerzogBrennendes Herz (English: Burning Heart ) is a 1995 drama film directed by Peter Patzak. 
25Werner Herzog, James Norwood Pratt, Gaetano Kazuo MaidaAll in This Tea is a 2007 documentary film co-directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht, about Chinese tea. It follows the American tea connoisseur David Lee Hoffman as he travels to remote tea-growing areas of China. Hoffman attempts to interest Chinese tea growers and distributors in fair trade issues, and explores the importance of terroir and organic growing methods in both the quality and future sustainability of the Chinese tea market. The film premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2007. It was filmed with a hand-held camera on digital video and is 70 minutes in length.
26The Lonely
Werner Herzog, Rachel Korine, Denis LavantThe Lonely is a 2009 documentary film directed by Brent Stewart.
27Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert DuvallIn the action-packed thriller Jack Reacher, ex-military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is summoned to unravel a complex case involving a military sniper accused of killing five people. Based on Lee Child's bestselling novel, the movie is filled with unexpected twists and turns as Reacher finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that reaches far beyond the initial crime. Supported by defense lawyer Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), he uses his unique skills to uncover the truth while battling against an unseen enemy. Throughout this gripping narrative, viewers are kept on edge, anticipating Reacher's next move in this high-stakes cat-and-mouse game.More Jack Reacher- Dig Deeper...All the Jack Reacher Books, Ranked Best to Worst
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28Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Chishū RyūTokyo-Ga is a 1985 documentary film directed by Wim Wenders ostensibly about filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. The film ranges from explicit focus on Ozu's filmmaking—Wenders interviews Ozu’s regular cinematographer, Yuharu Atsuta, and one of Ozu’s favorite actors, Chishū Ryū—to scenes of contemporary Tokyo such as pachinko and plastic food displays. Wenders introduces the film as a "diary on film." It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
29Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary
Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, Nick BroomfieldCapturing Reality: The Art of Documentary is a film and website about documentary filmmaking, directed by Pepita Ferrari. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, Capturing Reality explores the creative process of over 30 leading documentary filmmakers, combining interviews with excerpts from their films. The film had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November 2008. Ferrari began work on the project in 2007. The website features four hours of additional material that does not appear in the film.
30Episode 17: Niedrig gilt das Geld auf dieser Erde
Werner Herzog, Christine de LoupEpisode 17: Niedrig gilt das Geld auf dieser Erde is a 1969 short film directed by Ula Stöckl and Edgar Reitz.
