German director Werner Herzog, who will celebrate his 80th birthday in September this year, was already well-known in the international film circle for his bold, innovative and whimsical works as early as the 1970s and 1980s. He is also recognized as one of the standard bearers of the German film "New Wave" movement.
In addition to filming and directing plays and operas, Herzog is also keen on writing. In June, the English translation of his latest text work, The Twilight World, will be published in the United States. The story and characters of this book are based on real events, focusing on Hiroo Onoda, a former Japanese Army Second Lieutenant known as the "last 'World War II' soldier".
For a long time, more than the work itself, Herzog may have left a deep impression on the infinite courage he put into the film and the anecdotes that were born during the film making process. For example, he actually dragged a ship up a hill for the filming of "Overland Boat", nearly died of a volcanic eruption for the filming of the documentary "Sufrey Volcano", hypnotized the entire cast during the filming of "Glass Spirit", and hypnotized the entire cast for "Glass Spirit". Grizzly Man was shot by an unknown person during an interview, and he cooked his own leather shoes and swallowed them in public in order to encourage younger directors.
On March 10, 1974, exactly 29 years after the end of World War II, Onoda, who had been fighting alone in the tropical jungle of Lubang Island in the Philippines, finally walked down the hillside and surrendered to the local police. In 2014, Onoda Hiroro died of pneumonia in Tokyo at the age of 91. Before his death, he published a memoir "Non-surrender", detailing his mental journey in those 30 years and why he was always reluctant to face the fact that the war was over and Japan was defeated. In "The World of Twilight", Herzog pointed out: "The so-called Onoda's war was created by the combination of imagined nothingness and a dream."
Recalling the time, Herzog said, "I knew there had been people who wanted to make a film about him for a long time, but he always refused to cooperate. But after we met, he said to me, 'If it has to be made, then You should make this film, Herzogsan.' That moved me, and for a while, I did think about making a film about him, but in the end, for one reason or another, I didn't. This wish can be realized. Moreover, how should I put it, there are certain things about Onoda that may not be fully expressed in movies. For example, how did his self-contained belief system come about? You will find that he is actually a person who pays great attention to details, and even the smallest details cannot escape his eyes, and his entire world view is composed of this kind of religious fanaticism. In order to tell him that the war was over, they sent a helicopter to drop flyers from the sky into the jungle where he was hiding, trying to persuade him to surrender quickly. But after he found the flyers, he reacted like a devout man studying the Bible. After repeated deliberation, he found that the Chinese characters were spelled incorrectly, and there was a wrong expression of the unit number, so he decided that this was not a flyer from his own people, but came from the enemy, and wanted to trick him into surrendering."
"Besides, the passage of time is probably one of the reasons why I didn't make it into a movie but wrote it into text. We talked a lot about time at that meeting. I told him that the so-called present is actually He was quite fascinated by this statement. I said, Onoda, when you were in the jungle, I am afraid that you have walked a million steps, but every time you pull one foot out of the mud, go forward one step. Mai, that is the past tense, and when the foot falls again, that is the future. There is no present tense. The present exists only in fictional words and words, and we believe that we live in the present. But Technically, it doesn't exist now."
"When it comes to fiction, most people feel that Onoda has only lived in his own fictional world for decades, which is very sad. But I don't think this is necessarily so tragic. I even doubt that he actually lived in his 30 years. , I lived a very fulfilling life. Moreover, I also wrote in "The World of Shimmering Light", what I find most interesting is not only the fictional life of Onoda, but also that every one of us alive. , almost lived a fictional life, a life limited by the constraints of their respective cultures.”
Herzog has pointed out more than once that cinema is a conduit through which we can comprehend the truths we least know about ourselves, including our dreams and nightmares. Literature, on the other hand, touches on a deeper self in ourselves that we often don't even know exists, or how we feel about poetry.
"Even people who never read, or who read but never read poetry, have this feeling of poetry deep down in their hearts. So I believe in the importance of literature. Not only does the continuation of personal life require literature, we The collective experience of mankind is also inseparable from literature. In the 1970s, when I was toasting, I quoted a few sentences from Turgenev, and the host of the banquet continued to quote Turgenev's words to toast. Long paragraphs, completely recited. This is the power of words, which can connect us. Such things, of course, are less and less now, which I miss very much. I came to the United States 50 years ago. When I turned on the TV and saw Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer arguing fiercely, they were about to fight. Those are the past and we can only accept that. People read now It is becoming less and less common, and even the students who specialize in research in the university are not reading enough or not reading at all, which is very worthy of our vigilance.”
In addition to filming and directing plays and operas, Herzog is also keen on writing. In June, the English translation of his latest text work, The Twilight World, will be published in the United States. The story and characters of this book are based on real events, focusing on Hiroo Onoda, a former Japanese Army Second Lieutenant known as the "last 'World War II' soldier".
"The Shimmering World" Book Shadow
Recently, in order to promote the new book, Herzog accepted an interview with the American "New Yorker" magazine. Talking about the origin of the book's creation, Herzog said that all this should be thanks to the epidemic. "At the peak of the epidemic in the United States, I was at home in Los Angeles, and I was almost completely at home for several months. Since I couldn't take the crew out to make a movie, I simply settled down and wrote this book "Glow Light" "The World". Actually, I've been wanting to write this story for twenty years, so I don't need to write any more drafts, it can be said to be done in one go."For a long time, more than the work itself, Herzog may have left a deep impression on the infinite courage he put into the film and the anecdotes that were born during the film making process. For example, he actually dragged a ship up a hill for the filming of "Overland Boat", nearly died of a volcanic eruption for the filming of the documentary "Sufrey Volcano", hypnotized the entire cast during the filming of "Glass Spirit", and hypnotized the entire cast for "Glass Spirit". Grizzly Man was shot by an unknown person during an interview, and he cooked his own leather shoes and swallowed them in public in order to encourage younger directors.
Herzog in The Mandalorian
In recent years, in order to raise funds for filming, Herzog frequently went from behind the scenes to the front, appearing as an actor in Hollywood films such as the movie "Jack Reacher" and the American TV series "The Mandalorian", and the remuneration in exchange was all Involved in the shooting of works such as "Family Romance Co., Ltd." and "Fireball: Visitors from the Dark World"."Frozen Journey" Book Shadow
In addition to filming, he often writes and writes wherever he wants. As early as 1978, he published a diary-style essay collection "Frozen and Snow", which recorded his thoughts on the walk from Munich to Paris, which attracted many audiences who loved his films to buy. In 2004, he published another diary-style book "Conquest in vain", which recorded in detail the hardships and joys during the filming of the film "Overland Boat" more than 20 years ago. The latest work "The World of Shimmering Light" is his first non-diary work. Although it is a real story, it is closer to a novel in form."Conquest in vain" book movie
It turned out that as early as the late 1990s, Herzog had a relationship with the hero Onoda Hiroro. And it was from then on that he always wanted to write a book for this man. "At that time, I was invited to Tokyo to direct the opera "Tadashinzo" written by Akira Mie. One day I heard that people in the Japanese emperor's office were inquiring to see if I would like to meet the emperor. I think this kind of meeting is meaningless. , Everyone said some polite words, so I refused. But as soon as I said the words, I actually regretted it and felt embarrassed. I still feel regretful to this day. In short, I refused the emperor's invitation, which made the time The atmosphere was quite embarrassing, and the Japanese staff who worked with me on this opera even looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Finally, someone broke the deadlock and asked me if I didn’t want to see the emperor, was there any other Japanese that I wanted to do? I want to see you. I don't know what's wrong, but what I blurted out was - Onoda."On March 10, 1974, exactly 29 years after the end of World War II, Onoda, who had been fighting alone in the tropical jungle of Lubang Island in the Philippines, finally walked down the hillside and surrendered to the local police. In 2014, Onoda Hiroro died of pneumonia in Tokyo at the age of 91. Before his death, he published a memoir "Non-surrender", detailing his mental journey in those 30 years and why he was always reluctant to face the fact that the war was over and Japan was defeated. In "The World of Twilight", Herzog pointed out: "The so-called Onoda's war was created by the combination of imagined nothingness and a dream."
Recalling the time, Herzog said, "I knew there had been people who wanted to make a film about him for a long time, but he always refused to cooperate. But after we met, he said to me, 'If it has to be made, then You should make this film, Herzogsan.' That moved me, and for a while, I did think about making a film about him, but in the end, for one reason or another, I didn't. This wish can be realized. Moreover, how should I put it, there are certain things about Onoda that may not be fully expressed in movies. For example, how did his self-contained belief system come about? You will find that he is actually a person who pays great attention to details, and even the smallest details cannot escape his eyes, and his entire world view is composed of this kind of religious fanaticism. In order to tell him that the war was over, they sent a helicopter to drop flyers from the sky into the jungle where he was hiding, trying to persuade him to surrender quickly. But after he found the flyers, he reacted like a devout man studying the Bible. After repeated deliberation, he found that the Chinese characters were spelled incorrectly, and there was a wrong expression of the unit number, so he decided that this was not a flyer from his own people, but came from the enemy, and wanted to trick him into surrendering."
"Besides, the passage of time is probably one of the reasons why I didn't make it into a movie but wrote it into text. We talked a lot about time at that meeting. I told him that the so-called present is actually He was quite fascinated by this statement. I said, Onoda, when you were in the jungle, I am afraid that you have walked a million steps, but every time you pull one foot out of the mud, go forward one step. Mai, that is the past tense, and when the foot falls again, that is the future. There is no present tense. The present exists only in fictional words and words, and we believe that we live in the present. But Technically, it doesn't exist now."
"When it comes to fiction, most people feel that Onoda has only lived in his own fictional world for decades, which is very sad. But I don't think this is necessarily so tragic. I even doubt that he actually lived in his 30 years. , I lived a very fulfilling life. Moreover, I also wrote in "The World of Shimmering Light", what I find most interesting is not only the fictional life of Onoda, but also that every one of us alive. , almost lived a fictional life, a life limited by the constraints of their respective cultures.”
"Onoda's Jungle Nights"
Just last year, French director Artou Arari's feature film Onoda, 10 000 Nights in the Jungle came out. Although the story of Onoda was not made into a movie in the end, Herzog must not feel regret. He has always been famous for his films, but now he feels: "My films are like my various trips outside, and my writing, that's my home." Herzog He said that he believed that his literary works, including "The World of Shimmering Light", would have a longer lifespan than his films. "But what I say is not necessarily correct. In fact, I still often judge wrong."Herzog has pointed out more than once that cinema is a conduit through which we can comprehend the truths we least know about ourselves, including our dreams and nightmares. Literature, on the other hand, touches on a deeper self in ourselves that we often don't even know exists, or how we feel about poetry.
"Even people who never read, or who read but never read poetry, have this feeling of poetry deep down in their hearts. So I believe in the importance of literature. Not only does the continuation of personal life require literature, we The collective experience of mankind is also inseparable from literature. In the 1970s, when I was toasting, I quoted a few sentences from Turgenev, and the host of the banquet continued to quote Turgenev's words to toast. Long paragraphs, completely recited. This is the power of words, which can connect us. Such things, of course, are less and less now, which I miss very much. I came to the United States 50 years ago. When I turned on the TV and saw Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer arguing fiercely, they were about to fight. Those are the past and we can only accept that. People read now It is becoming less and less common, and even the students who specialize in research in the university are not reading enough or not reading at all, which is very worthy of our vigilance.”
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