Into the Abyss

I've found myself drawn to Werner Herzog's documentaries in a stronger way than my attraction to his narratives had ever been. I like his style, simplistic as it occasionally can be, and he puts everything together in a way that's sometimes clearer than his narratives' set-up. In the same year INTO THE ABYSS came out, Herzog released CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, which, through its simplicity and universality was, for me, a triumph. Thus, I came into INTO THE ABYSS with some real expectations, and they weren't really met. Herzog makes it clear pretty quickly that he's against the death penalty, and then shows us a truly despicable and pathetic Texan on death row. Herzog could make a point here about how Texas has executed more people than any other state, or that some of the people they've executed have been proved innocent, but he instead chooses to focus on someone who is obviously guilty. The man's name is Michael Perry. He has greasy black hair, bulgy eyes, but a clear way of expressing himself in personable quips. He murdered three people, and will be dead in a few weeks. His partner in the crime (also extensively interviewed) was given a life sentence. Herzog breaks the film in a series of parts. The first deals with the crime itself, and then he moves onto people who knew Michael Perry, and then the family members of the victims, once of which actually expresses her disbelief in the death penalty, but her joy at Perry's death. What Herzog fails to do, though, is take any real stance, and I felt deceived by a story that really went nowhere. It's a queasy film, and you can't help but have a lot of hatred for Michael Perry and his accomplice. Essentially, I don't think Herzog knew what he was doing here, because the film's ambiguities feel as if they were non-answers repurposed as artsy vagueness.

★★ out of Five