Monday | October 6, 2003 7:00 pm

Signs of Life
(Lebenszeichen)

Screening on Film

Directed by Werner Herzog.
With Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopolous.
West Germany, 1967, 35mm, black & white, 90 min.
German with English subtitles.

Herzog’s first feature, which marked a turning point in the renaissance of German cinema, is an original mixture of Quixote-like madness and case history. The central character is a wounded German soldier sent to sit out the war in an isolated Mediterranean garrison. Unhinged by the torpid circularity of island life, he is driven mad by the incredible vision of a valley filled with thousands of small, whirring windmills and stages an insane, one-man revolt.

PRECEDED BY

Precautions Against Fanatics (Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker)

Directed by Werner Herzog.
West Germany, 1968, black & white, 11 min.
German with English subtitles.

In this early, short effort by Werner Herzog, an outraged old man declares himself the protector of race horses and fights against fanatic trainers.