The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2018: Heart of Glass (1976), directed by Werner Herzog

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "Der Ruf", by Popul Vuh

       Well now, here’s a director that’s slowly racking up the appearances in the Marathon: Mr. Grizzly Man himself, Werner Herzog. Herzog first appeared way back in 2014, when an interest in German actor Klaus Kinski (brought upon by the documentary My Best Friend) and the connection the infamous silent film classic pushed me to throw his film Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht onto the completely meaningless number one spot that year. It was an okay film from what I can remember, which admittedly isn’t much, but that was that. Life moved on, and there were plenty more movies to see.

Fast forward to 2017, and suddenly Herzog shows up again, with the absurdist comedy Even Dwarfs Started Small. The choice of doing another Herzog film wasn’t a whim, a streaming service I often use had a slew of them, but the choice of which film I believe was likely down to last minute decisions. Given that I had the choice of famous films like Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre and I ultimately went for the one where a bunch of little people get into shenanigans, it’s once again an example that the Monty Hall problem doesn’t work in the case of movies. Not the best movie I had ever seen, but we got through it, and life moved on.

Now it’s 2018, and since we’re revisiting the foreign last 10 movies angle, that means that Herzog is squeaking by with yet another one. You have to admire his tenacity, managing to worm his way to an entry not once but twice, where his other colleagues may falter. He may not be the highlight of any Marathon that he shows up on, but he’s still in there. You don’t have to be the MVP to get a Superbowl ring, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

       Heart of Glass is not the hardest-hitting movie in the world when it comes to story, but I’ll tell you what I can. A few hundred years ago there was a small German village, we never learn its name, that was known for one thing: Shimmering red glass more popularly known as Ruby glass. However, the secret to making Ruby glass was known to only one man, Mühlbeck, and when he died he took the secret with him. Deprived of their source of livelihood, the village falls into a deep depression, as if they are sleepwalking through life. A depression which will become even worse, as Hias the herdsman has predicted that at nightfall the factory will burn, that the villagers will run into the forest and turn to stone, and that everything in the village will perish. The beginning of the end as the kids say, and Hias’ predictions are never wrong…

     There are two main selling points when it comes to Heart of Glass, the first being the use of hypnotism. Aside from Hias and a couple glassblowers (kinda want your wits about you when working with molten glass), every character in every scene was placed under hypnosis, with only minimal direction by Herzog when it came to dialogue. Occasionally you might even notice it, but then there are moments where you can’t do anything else. People mumbling their lines with blank expressions on their faces, characters suddenly laugh or scream for no reason, scenes that you would assume to be boisterous and noisy taking on the aspect of the grave, and so on. It’s intensely surreal and unsettling, uncontrolled, in a way that similarly strange films can’t quite replicate. If nothing else, the fact that this movie runs as smoothly as it does with all these tranced out zombies stumbling around doing scenes together is definitely worth a feather in Herzog’s directing cap. I don’t think many other filmmakers would want to put up with it.

       The other main selling point is that most of the music is done by a band, German progressive rock band Popol Vuh. It’s not an uncommon practice, Michael Mann contracted Tangerine Dream to do the music for his film Thief, not to mention Dario Argento’s many collaborations with the band Goblin, and props to Herzog using local music. Popol Vuh’s music is exactly the right feel for what Heart of Glass is; majestic when taking in the beautiful vistas of the Bavarian countryside, turning almost menacing when turned towards the villagers. It conveys aurally the emotion the scene is trying to convey visually and it does it well, which is what you need in a film score. Also you should check out Popol Vuh, they’re pretty damn good.

       Those two points aside, I’m struggling to find much to say when it comes to Heart of Glass. It’s one of those movies where things seem to just happen, which is appropriate for a village of ‘sleepwalkers’, with a lot of time dedicated to Hias and his strange prophecies. All of which likely holds great significance when you understand the meaning of the film, something like ‘certain against fate is ultimately pointless’ or ‘pessimists will always prove themselves right’ or even ‘make sure you write things down’, but which is otherwise comes across as inscrutable and perhaps even pretentious to those in a sour mood. Which is okay, I just got done talking about how I enjoy unpacking films in the last entry, but it’s also not really a film that leaves you on the edge of your seat in suspense. It’s a lot of sitting and thinking while watching a bunch of people sit and talk, set to the sounds of German progressive rock. Not quite everyone’s idea of a good time, I suspect.

       In the tradition of Herzog films in the Marathon, Heart of Glass isn’t the most exciting film that I’ve covered this year. However, it certainly wasn’t the worst either, and it was a unique gimmick for a film at the very least. If Even Dwarfs Started Small didn’t interest you then it’s probable that you won’t be interested in Heart of Glass either, but if you’re building a list of trippy, weird movies to watch this Halloween, then you might like throwing this one on the queue. You don’t even need to be hypnotized to do it! Although it might help.