Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Woyzeck
1979
**
Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Wolfgang Reichmann, Willy Semmelrogge

Fueled by jealousy and dodgy medical experiments, a lowly soldier stationed in a German town (sometime in the 19th century) goes insane. This dreary and disappointing Herzog film is based on Georg Büchner's play, which becomes obvious when the characters give eloquent monologues one after the other. Kinski plays the madness with his usual brilliance, but the film is too short, thankfully, to give Woyzeck any kind of believable character arc.