Woyzeck

This week I watched a German film called "Woyzeck".  "Woyzeck" is one of five films created by the director Werner Herzog and staring Klaus Kinski as leading actor.  In this film Woyzeck, a soldier, has sold himself into experimentation with the army's doctor in order to earn money for his wife and son.  These experiments abuse Woyzeck both physically and mentally, so that the soldier is on the verge of going insane.  When Woyzeck begins to suspect that is wife, Marie, is having an affair, his suppositions plunge him into a downward spiral ending in mental collapse and murder.

Several parts of this film reminded my of Shakespearean plays, especially at the end of the film when Woyzeck, who has just stabbed Marie to death, struggles to hide his dagger and rise the blood stains from his clothes.  This scene of Woyzeck, shot with Marie's dead body in the foreground, seems to allude to Macbeth, both with the dagger and with Woyzeck's German version of "out out damn spot!"  I also thought it was interesting how frequently Kinski looks directly into the camera.  This technique creates a monologue feel within the movie, much like the monologues in Shakespeare's plays.  I found this style rather disarming.  Whereas most movies seem to exist in a world unto themselves, Kinski and Herzog reach out to their viewers when when Woyzeck makes eye contact with the film's audience.