Lessons of Darkness

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Lessons of Darkness

1992,

50m,

Documentary/

Sci-Fi/

War

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Watchlist

100%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

92%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Retreating from Kuwait after the first Gulf War, the Iraqi army sets fire to the country's oil fields. In this documentary, filmmaker Werner Herzog films the raging flames while narrating from the perspective of a confused alien visitor, musing on the strangeness of the landscape. As the fires burn, helicopter shots display the extent of the damage. On the ground, firefighters do their best to control things, while Kuwaiti women recount atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqis.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Feb 16, 2006

B+

One of Herzog's earliest - and most evocative - cinematic essays on the uneasy relationships between man and Earth, unaffected reality and orchestrated drama.

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Nov 10, 2023

It restores your faith in humanity to think that the genius behind such cosmic objets d’art...

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Wael Khairy

The Cinephile Fix

Dec 30, 2022

The visuals here pack the grandiosity of anything we’ve seen in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The only difference is, this is real, and it’s not outer space, it’s the tip of the Persian Gulf.

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Andrew Todd

Birth.Movies.Death.

Sep 1, 2019

Living up to its opening quote about the end of the universe, Lessons of Darkness is a glimpse at a world-death caused by humanity - one we haven't entirely avoided yet.

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Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Feb 6, 2010

A staggering, faux-extraterrestrial fugue

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Oct 1, 2007

4/5

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Kylo W

Feb 18, 2019

Stunning visual documentation of the aftermath of the Iraq War, including the burning oil fields. Not much dialogue, but the interviews are poignant, and immediately tell the harm of the Gulf War. As they say, it's 1/2 documentary, 1/2 science fiction, set to a dramatic score full of strings and opera music. While it was stunning, you get the point right away and the point could have been made in 30 minutes.

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Kylo G

Apr 27, 2017

Very cool film, another similar film was Fires of Kuwait

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Werner Herzog

Director

Werner Herzog

Writer

Werner Herzog

Producer

Paul Berriff

Producer

Lucki Stipetic

Producer

Paul Berriff

Cinematographer

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Synopsis

Retreating from Kuwait after the first Gulf War, the Iraqi army sets fire to the country's oil fields. In this documentary, filmmaker Werner Herzog films the raging flames while narrating from the perspective of a confused alien visitor, musing on the strangeness of the landscape. As the fires burn, helicopter shots display the extent of the damage. On the ground, firefighters do their best to control things, while Kuwaiti women recount atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqis.

Director: Werner Herzog
Producer: Werner Herzog, Paul Berriff, Lucki Stipetic
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog
Production Co: Canal+, Premiere Medien, ITEL
Genre: Documentary, Sci-Fi, War
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 1992, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Runtime: 50m

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