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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 New: $13.38
as of 3/19/2010 22:59 CDT details
You Save: $6.57 (33%)
New (21) Used (9) from $10.33
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Seller: moviemars
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 44,235
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 19
 good for a travelogue, not so for a film February 26, 2010
Joel Fox (Santa Monica, United States)
Interesting subjects, poorly shot, searching for a cohesive story but its pretty thin. It looks like a low-budget PBS documentary, but with more abstract storytelling. It feels very honest which s nice, but honest like a student doc that doest know what its doing, just looking for something interesting. Asks a lot of the viewer to find meaning on the long quiet shots of simple things. Its self-conscious filmmaking that includes the making of the film as part of the film. Again, it honest, but there are some really contrived scenes in there as well, obvious setups that seem even more out of place in this type of filmmaking.
 Beautiful in places February 22, 2010
Andreas Faust (Tasmanian Autonomous Zone)
Beginning with some great film footage of the early age of flight, including the explosion of the Hindenburg Zeppelin, this documentary then turns to modern day airship fanatic Dr. Graham Dorrington. It gradually emerges that Dorrington's friend Dieter Plage was killed flying a similar airship ten years earlier, and it is clear that Dorrington feels a certain degree of guilt over the death. Despite this, he persists in his quest to fly an airship over remote jungle in Guyana. The airship itself has a bit of a 'steampunk' look about it, and reminds me of Lee Scoresby's balloon in 'The Golden Compass'. With the help of this contraption, Dorrington aims to film the rainforest canopy - one the richest biospheres on earth.
The human element in this film is not so intense as with other Herzog documentaries, yet it does contain some amazing cinematography, such as the swifts flying madly into a waterfall, their secret kingdom. Perhaps the film would have been better if cut in length (it's not often you can say that about a Herzog film), or perhaps more footage of the rainforest canopy and less of the crew arguing. It's still worth watching, however.
Making Something out of Nothing February 16, 2010
Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States)
"The White Diamond" is my third excursion into the wilds of South America with Werner Herzog (the other two being "Aguirre; Wrath of God" and "Fitzcarraldo"). I have come to appreciate Director Herzog willingness to go into remote territories to tell a story (as well as delving into remote subjects). I looked forward to watching this documentary although I was initially wondering what I was getting into.
The film begins with an examination of man and flight and then gets around to a English aviator who has developed a better version (albeit much smaller) version of the motorized lighter-than-air vehicle. We are able to maintain our interest in the film because the aviator wants to try it out in a remote area of Guyana. The footage of the magnificent water falls there are breath-taking and I was glad that the camera kept coming back to it. Along the way, we meet an interesting local named Mark Anthony Yhab (or something like that). He was looking for help with finding his relatives and Herzog did what he could to help. We meet another local who tells of a folklore/mystery of what lays behind the Falls (and why it should remain a mystery). No one has seen what's behind it although Herzog acknowledged that they got some camera shots that they declined to show. What's the big deal? Well, there are thousands of swifts that live back there. The closing shots of them heading for home is worth the price of admission.
Herzog does a lot with "The White Diamond" and, in doing so, makes a good documentary out of, well, out of nothing. The secret? Location, location, location.
 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?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 19
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