Fata Morgana

Werner Herzog’s third feature is a haunting, sardonic exploration of Africa as it was “in the beginning,” and as it becomes glutted with the wastes of technological civilization. Amos Vogel writes of the film: “Marvelous, sensual, 360-degree travelling shots of animal cadavers, barbed wire, industrial wastes, decaying trucks, sudden oil wells, ominous surrealist tableaux — all embedded in tragically alienated landscapes of sand and disassociated natives — create an obsessional, hypnotic statement whose anti-technological, anti-totalitarian, cruelly anti-sentimental humanism is subtle, overpowering, and inexplicable to shallow Left and know-nothing Right.”

“Every shot has a double edge of harsh reality and surrealist fantasy, as when the landing of a jet plane, repeated nine or ten times, becomes an odd spiritual symbol, at once banal and mysterious…For me, it’s Herzog’s most interesting film.” — Dave Kehr, The Chicago Reader

“Maybe more than any other film I have made it is one that needs to be completed by the audience, which means all feelings, thoughts, and interpretations are welcome.” — Werner Herzog on Fata Morgana

Film Details

Country: Germany
Language: German
Year: 1971
Running time: 79 min
Format: DCP

Director: Werner Herzog
Cinematographer: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein

Editor: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Print Source: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Films and schedules may be subject to change.

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