MartinHafer I have recently discovered that Werner Herzog's greatest strength as a director isn't his fictionalized films (such as "Fitzcarraldo", "Aguire: The Wrath of God" and his remake of "Nosferatu") but his documentaries. Early in his career and later after he became a well respected filmmaker he mostly made documentaries--and all of them have been very good. In fact, several I have seen blew me away because of the lengths to which he's gone to make these documentaries--every bit as logistically difficult as his fictional films set in South America (which are legendary for their awfulness due to them being made in the middle of no where--such as well within the Amazon rain forest). So far, I've seen Herzog make films in Antarctica, inside French caves, death row and Siberia! He certainly is willing to go just about anywhere or do anything to make these films! In the case of "The White Diamond", Herzog and his crew trek to the middle of nowhere in Guyana, South America. They are going to one of the largest and most difficult to reach waterfalls in the world. And, what makes this unique is that one of the folks will be using an extremely tiny dirigible to go up to the very edge of the falls and film it in a way no one else could.Now you'd think that this would be THE focus of the movie, but at times the film took huge deviations and spent a lot of time talking about the deaths of film makers in some very dangerous situations--such as the one killed by a gorilla in Central Africa. These stories were very interesting but would have been best to put in their own film. Instead, very little actual footage of the falls and the jungle are in the film compared to what could have been there. Also, there were LOTS of shots that I am sure Herzog loved (such as closeups of lizards, bugs, people philosophizing, etc.) but combined with the discordant music, it just lost me--as did the guy break dancing near the edge of the falls. As I said, I've really enjoyed other documentaries he's made but this one was difficult to enjoy or complete. I respect what he was trying to do--it's just not among his best work. The best thing about this were the shots of the falls--but there wasn't nearly enough of this nor were there shots FROM the dirigible.

kiwisago Werner Herzog follows a scientist down to South America to test a balloon, but when they get there, he encounters changing circumstances. He finds other things to film as well as his original subject, and so the film meanders along a satisfying route of nature, falling water, interesting humans (and birds), and pure visual joy.The sheer courage of Herzog in following this approach makes for a fascinating film. I saw it a few years ago, but my lingering impression is of a gorgeous, sensitively put together piece of film-making that made me feel like I had somehow become a little better for having seen it. As if Herzog had captured optimism itself on film, perhaps, simply by following inspiration wherever it leads...

Thorkell A Ottarsson Herzog loves to explore the nature within. He has been doing this ever since he started out as a filmmaker. Aguirre, Wrath of God is a good example. There nature mirrors what is happening with in the persons. He does that same thing here.A lesser filmmaker would only have concentrated on the technical marvel and the landscape. He/she would have overlooked the dreams and life of Marc Anthony Yhap (a hired hand) and Graham Dorrington's bleeding heart because of mistakes in the past. Inner landscape which are just as fascinating as the thousands of birds diving under the waterfall or the reflection in the raindrop.I thought this film was like a meditation on life, past, present, dreams, failures, cultures and harmony with nature. I loved how Herzog would keep the shots longer than most directors would have, like when Graham Dorrington puts on his jet suit and pretend to fly like superman. And the landscape pictures where just breathtaking.This is one of Herzog's best film, and that's saying a lot.

Howard Schumann Werner Herzog's The White Diamond, a documentary about the exploits of Dr. Graham Dorrington, an engineer at St. Mary's College in London, England, might have been called "Little Graham Needs To Fly". Dorrington is a solitary dreamer who is eager to explore wilderness areas and tropical rain forests in a helium-filled airship. In particular, he wants to explore the rain forest canopy of Guyana and Werner Herzog brings his camera and his best narrative voice along for the ride. The film is both the story of a man and his dreams and an ode to an unspoiled wilderness that has so far withstood man's insatiable need for "progress".Like other Herzog films I have seen recently, there are moments of involving action pitting man against nature, along with stretches of dullness and sudden outbursts of enormous beauty. Just to watch the flocks of swifts fly in formation above Kaieteur Falls, a waterfall four times the height of Niagara, backed by the cello of Ernst Reijseger and the chorus of the Tenore E Cuncordu De Orosei, is an experience in itself worth the price of admission.The film begins with a brief overview of the history of flight including scenes of the horrific crash of the Hindenburg Zeppelin in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937, a tragedy that ended the dream of travel in lighter than air vehicles. The film then shifts to Guyana where Dorrington is in the process of assembling a two-person airship to help him make his journey and confront his past demons. Dieter is a thoughtful man though given to childlike outbursts of enthusiasm. He dreams of "drifting with the motors off in the peace and quiet, quietly floating above these forests in the mist". Though Herzog seems to want to portray all his protagonists as slightly mad, Dorrington appears too grounded to fulfill the director's wishes. His purpose contains elements of both inner and outer exploration. He wants to move on from a tragic accident that occurred eleven years ago when his friend and companion Dieter Plage was killed while flying one of his airships.Dorrington is reluctant at first to discuss Dieter and his tragic end, but later recounts in agonizing detail the precise details of the accident for which he blames himself. In a scene later revealed to have been staged, Herzog and Graham argue about whether cameras should be allowed on the test flight of his airship christened The White Diamond by a local miner, but Herzog prevails because he fears that it may be the only flight that will take place. We sense throughout the early part of the film that any flight is dangerous and extreme precautions are taken to ensure safety. There are other peripheral characters that we have come to expect from Herzog.A young cook does a Michael Jackson dance to hip hop music while standing on the edge of a cliff and we meet Mark Anthony Yhap, a diamond miner whose eloquent philosophy contrasts sharply with the more inner-directed Dorrington and he waxes poetic when talking about his beloved rooster. Yhap is a Rastafarian, an African religion that believes that Haile Sellassie is the living God. Yhap wants to fly so that he can visit his family in Spain whom he hasn't seen in many years and his contact information appears in the credits. All this is peripheral to the main event, however, and as we soar over the rain forest, we forget Herzog's description of nature as "a brutal place full of murder and cruel indifference" and simply bathe in its majesty.