Product Description

Franz woyzeck is a hapless hopeless soldier alone and powerless in society assaulted from all sides by forces he cannot control. Abused and tortured both physically and psychologically by commanding officers doctors and his unfaithful wife. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 06/03/2008 Starring: Eva Mattes Willy Semmelrogge Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Werner Herzog

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72468 in DVD
• Brand: Werner
• Released on: 2000-08-15
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
The films of Werner Herzog are often marked by physically punishing circumstances that test the endurance of the characters. In Woyzeck, based on the classic German expressionist play by Georg Buchner, all the punishment is within. Klaus Kinski stars as Woyzeck, a disturbed soldier subjected to dubious scientific experiments and maltreatment from his superiors. His only solace is his lover, Marie (Eva Mattes)--so when he begins to suspect her of infidelity, his jealousy swiftly turns murderous. The movie is shot with unusual simplicity, often in long sustained shots that demand focused, disciplined performances. Both of the main actors rose to the task; Mattes was awarded Best Supporting Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and Kinski creates a harrowing portrait of fragile desperation. It's a reminder that, though best known for his volcanic frenzies, Kinski could vividly portray all sides of the human condition. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

BORN TO LOSE
We have to thank Anchor Bay for bringing into the DVD standard a certain number of german director Werner Herzog movies. Werner Herzog is, in my opinion, one of the best film directors of Movie History and his films must be shown again and again if we want that a new generation of directors rises from the ashes of the kilometers of rotten anonymous pellicle produced in industrial quantity nowadays.

WOYZECK was filmed in 1978 in Czeschoslovaquia, just after the completion of NOSFERATU. Georg Büchner's play is well-known to european literature students who have to read it at least once during their academic career. At first, I didn't understand why WOYZECK had attracted a lyrical director like Werner Herzog. Georg Büchner's minimalist dialogs and action don't leave much place for the visionary travellings of the director of AGUIRRE and KASPAR HAUSER.

But, as soon as Klaus Kinski appears as the soldier Woyzeck, I knew that something would happen on the screen, Klaus Kinski IS Woyzeck in the same way that he WAS Aguirre, the mad conquistador. When Woyzeck feels that there is " a second nature " hidden behind what we see, the genius of Werner Herzog explodes once again : what is important is not what we see but what we feel while being hypnotized by the hallucinated Klaus-Woyzeck-Kinski.

Of course, I shall recommend WOYZECK to those of you who are already familiar with Werner Herzog's world through AGUIRRE, KASPAR HAUSER or HEART OF GLASS. I also recommend it to the students who are fighting with the dryness of Georg Büchner's play or to those who still believe that Klaus Kinski was only a B-movie actor who starred in horror movies and spaghetti westerns of the 60's and the 70's.

Superb copy with a trailer and incomplete filmographies of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski.

A DVD zone movie lovers only.

Woyzeck Powerful Truthful Kinski Assoluta
Klaus Kinski gives the finest performance of his career in this fine adaptation of the play, later used by Alban Berg for his opera Wozzeck, completed in 1924. The story has always had a power and truth all of its own; indeed it is based on an actual incident. Highly recommended!

So-So Herzog
Surprisingly straight version of Buchner's play by Herzog. Only two really interesting scenes in the film. One is the death scene in which Kinski and Eva Mattes play it to the hilt, and the other involves one of Herzog's trademark monkey scenes. It's not bad, just that after viewing Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, you'll be expecting more.