Into the Abyss: Werner Herzog

Whether he's filming in Germany, Africa, South America, or Australia, director Werner Herzog has an uncanny ability to reach into a location and bare its very soul in front of the camera.  In his most recent documentary Into the Abyss, he does nothing less than capture the atmosphere of tragedy, quiet desperation, and impossible hope that possesses rural Texas. I should know. I lived in such an area for five years when I was a child. Herzog finds Texas' heart in the story of Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, two teenagers convicted of a triple homicide in Conroe, Texas.  The boys killed three people during a robbery of a neighbor's red Camaro. Burkett received a life sentence. But Perry, who actually killed the three victims, got the death penalty. Herzog views the killers, victims' families, and the police involved with the case with a passive, non-judgmental eye. There is an overwhelming sadness pervasive in the film. But the sadness isn't directed at anybody in particular. Herzog regards the broken lives of killers and victims ruthlessly.  It seems like almost every person connected to the case has either done jail time, is currently in jail, or seems destined for it.  He even managed to interview Perry eight days before his execution. But the most devastating parts of the documentary are the interviews with the prison's priest who delivers last rites and a former executioner. The priest hates his job but feels obligated to do it. He needs to show the prisoners that even in their last moments somebody loves them. The executioner recounts how he quit after performing over 100 executions and could no longer handle the inhumanity of the system. Werner Herzog has stated that he is against the death penalty. But at no point during Into the Abyss does Herzog explicitly condemn it. Instead, he lets those involved in the case serve as living testimonies to a cruel and horrific system.

9/10