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Rating: "This film is a sick work directed by a sick person" W.H.
In a remote desertified valley abandoned by God and man (Lanzarote), a group of dwarfs, confined in a sort of existential prison, rebels against the dictator leader (also a dwarf). Thus begins the group's rediscovery of sensations and enthusiasms long-forgotten. From there, the much-desired freedom will turn into a condition of anarchic madness impossible to manage, leading to uncontrollable acts of physical and psychological violence against objects, people, and animals.
It will end with the now exhausted group convincing themselves to return to their cells, safe from the "too much freedom" they have acquired.
A film that was intended to be an interesting project, released at the height of the revolutionary movements of '68, but eventually proves to be quite static, somewhat boring, and not very impactful. Long and insignificant continuous shots, editing errors, and extremely minimal dialogues (even more so in German with Italian subtitles) dilute its strength and water down its message.
A rather atypical film for the German director Werner Herzog (author of many other Masterpieces!) who tackles diversity and marginalization for the first time, with explicit references to Pasolini's works. A film, in its own way, a condemnation of the 1968 revolution that happened a few months earlier, prophesying its end and the "return to order" by a people who will not be able to revolutionize anything if the change does not start from the individual.
A sort of metaphorical nightmare where even Herzog wishes "everyone will recognize the sick dwarf that each carries within."
NB: The references to the Berlusconi Government and the non-existent reaction of the Italian opposition are not entirely coincidental...
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