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The White Diamond |  | Director: Werner Herzog
Actors: Werner Herzog, Graham Dorrington, Götz Dieter Plage, Adrian de Schryver, Annette Scheurich
Studio: Fox Lorber
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $12.58
as of 11/21/2009 14:01 CST details
You Save: $7.37 (37%)
New (15) Used (4) from $12.58
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Seller: tacoma_goodwill
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 10635
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FLVD5469D
UPC: 720917546926
EAN: 0720917546926
ASIN: B000AQ68XC
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Release Date: October 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 90 minutes
Amazon.com
It's a good bet there are no directors who float between feature and documentary filmmaking as smoothly as Werner Herzog. The White Diamond (2004) is a companion piece of sorts to his well-received Grizzly Man. Both are about eccentric dreamers who travel to harsh landscapes following their dream with tragic consequences. In other words, perfect "Herzogian" fodder. Two important differences: White Diamond is filmed in the standard way (not piecing together another's videotape) and the tragedy occurred years before cameras rolled. Dr. Graham Dorrington is a man driven to fly. The Cambridge scientist creates new types of airships to explore the canopy of tropical rain forests. Herzog and his crew follow Dorrington to Guyana to see if this new-age dirigible can bring us closer to this fragile and important ecosystem. The film is less about what those discoveries might mean and more a portrait of a man. This is not Dorrington's first attempt to go to the jungle. A haunting accident a decade earlier in the forests of Borneo nags at him and Herzog prods Dorrington's recollections. The 90-minute film has some very rich side trips well worth taking: a legend of the gigantic Kaieteur Falls, the diamond mines of the area, and getting to know one of the hired porters. Herzog injects his own thoughts and gets into the action (he's on the initial flight, much to the chagrin of some of the team members) while delivering a satisfying, gorgeously shot film. --Doug Thomas
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
 Otherworldly Beauty September 12, 2009
ohiobavaria
Beautiful imagery of nearly unreal seeming scenes make this movie a jewel among documentaries. The music just fits perfectly in this achievement. I am tempted though to take of a star questioning the pure value as a documentary (as so many other of Herzog's 'documentaries') but I would love to see more unusual movies like this one.
 Good September 21, 2008
Cosmoetica (New York, USA)
This film starts with an overview of the history of flight, especially the non-mechanical sort, and, of course, ends with scenes of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937, which kyboshed the dream of lighter than air vehicles as practical instruments of travel. Then, the film follows the obsessive modern flotative folly of aeronautical engineer, Dr. Graham Dorrington, of St. Mary's College in London, England, and his attempt to use a miniature blimp (which is diamond shaped and white) to circumnavigate the forest canopy in Guyana, in order to a) vindicate the death of a friend of his, documentary cinematographer Dieter Plage a decade before when an earlier blimp got tangled in Sumatran trees, and the man fell to his death trying to free himself from it during a storm, as well as b) ostensibly find out much about the canopy's resources for commercial development. Dorrington is a bit of a nutty guy, albeit rather tame by Herzogian standards. He lost two fingers on his left hand when, as a teen, he forgot to let go of a small rocket he was testing. Like most Herzog `documentaries,' though, the term must be loosely applied, for Herzog is not merely recording Dorrington's obsession, but financing the expedition. This is made clear when, on the mini-blimp's maiden flight, Herzog insists that he take his camera along for the ride, in case it is the only flight the vehicle makes, and chides Dorrington's desire to test it alone, first, as stupid, and the worst sort of stupid. His rationale: `I cannot ask a cinematographer to get in an airship before I test it myself.' It has been reported that much of that scene was scripted, but so what? Herzog has never been a literalist, no more than his pal Kinski was.
The White Diamond is a minor film in Herzog's oeuvre, and much too digressive, even if a far better film than any other filmmaker could do with the materials at hand, but one wishes the DVD company, Wellspring, would have included some extra features, like a commentary by Herzog. All we get are a Herzog filmography, and some trailers- labeled as both Trailers and Coming Attractions. We don't even get this film's trailer in the bargain. But, why be grounded when this film is dedicated to the very antipodes?
Beautiful scenes of the jungles of Guyana May 15, 2008
Kid Kyoto (Beijing)
I had the pleasure of living in Guyana for 2 years and visited Kaiteur Falls where most of this was filmed. It perfectly captures the beauty of that remote place.
I read other reviewer's concerns about how true some of the scenes with the professor and the director were, and they are valid fears.
That being said the drama between them and the beauty of the images make this an entertaining film to own.
WHITE DIAMOND March 29, 2008
W. A. Lowry (Sacramentoi)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had not heard about this film prior to seeing it on Amazon. It is very much a Herzog film in style but the usual Herzog imprimatur of borderline outrageousness is not there. This is a documetary not really an adventure.
poetic ecstatic truth? August 7, 2007
Linda O'Carroll (UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Werner Herzog has been talking about poetic ecstatic truth recently. I'm not sure quite what he means, but it seems to be something in the space between (a) his willingness to stage or set up the subjects of his documentaries in the manner of a feature film to get his point across, and (b) the fact that some people in the audience can receive epiphanies of a secular sort, from his work.
There is truth of a kind in the fabulous beauty of the photography in his documentaries, of course - and there's a lot of that in this film. Especially moving are the night shots of the balloon lit up like the moon, and the day shots of continuous circling movements of birds over water. These circular movements echo previous scenes - in Nosferatu there's a wonderful shot of eddies in a stream; in Heart of Glass a painting of a tavern interior seems to come to life, with people endlessly turning circles to return to their original poses. I once met a German film director who knew Herzog, and he told me that he thought that water in Herzog's films probably signified transition. Get an ephiphany off that lot, if you can.
And what about the much-discussed exploitation/misrepresentation of the eccentric/non-eccentric scientist? He doesn't look too eccentric to me, but perhaps that's because we see him next to Herzog. But he does get to be ecstatic. True or staged? You decide.
The White Diamond is as beautiful as all Herzog's films are - and I reckon if I'm lucky it will take me a lifetime (and some) to feel the true depth of it. Some films get into your soul - and I think this may be one of them.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
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