Signs of Life
by Werner Herzog
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Athina Zacharopoulou, Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Wolfgang Stumpf, Wolfgang von Ungern-SternbergDirector: Werner Herzog
Brand: NYF
Cinematographer: Thomas Mauch
Composer: Stavros Xarchakos
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; Greek (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 87 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: New Yorker
Movie Reviews of Signs of Life
Movie Review: Terrific debut
Summary: 4 Stars
No filmmaker's career has been more defined and structured by the musical choices he has made than German film director Werner Herzog; and this claim is evident from his first full length feature, 1968's Signs Of Life (Lebenszeichen), which he made when he was twenty-four and released when he was twenty-five, after writing the script when he was twenty-one, but getting the idea for it, he claims, when he was fifteen or sixteen. Oddly, the film also gives a story credit to someone named Achim Von Arnim. Nonetheless, it is an extraordinary film, not because it is so technically brilliant, but because it espouses such a mature artistic touch. A good counterpoint to this film would be Martin Scorsese's debut film, Who's That Knocking At My Door? Scorsese's film shows much talent, but it is the art of a young man, whose protagonist is suffering the angsts that all young men go through. By contrast, the hero of Herzog's debut film is suffering from something far deeper and more profound, the sort of psychospiritual ravages that beset one in a midlife crisis. Yet, it's not merely the crisis that the film's protagonist suffers through, but how it is represented that show why Herzog would become the most daring, if not also the greatest, filmmaker of the last forty years.
The film is very spare, in its dialogue, its visuals, its music, but like a Beckett play gone straight, this only heightens the attention needed to the smallest of details. And this is where the emotive brilliance of the Greek string music, as evocative as the zither used in The Third Man, comes in, even as it counterpoints against the images the film unleashes.... The reasons why Signs Of Life succeeds are manifold, but chief among them is that, even at an early age, Herzog presents the German soldiers as men, not rabid Nazi ideologues. All three were likely conscripted against their will, and seem to long for nothing more than the end of the war. Also, the black and white film captures many of the moments of reality that happen, which later films would capitalize on, and make a Herzogian trademark, especially Even Dwarfs Started Small. Yet, the film is still relevant because it blends music and imagery in ways very few films ever had, and backs up the later claim that Herzog made, that he's never made an error in musical selection for a film. Signs Of Life is the first proof of that claim, but thankfully not the last. Here's hoping that is one note whose resonance does not fade for a very long time.
Summary of Signs of Life
"Stroszek is an injured soldier sent to recuperate at a remote Greek island. There, he and his new Greek wife, Nora, serve as caretakers to an abandoned ammunition dump. The newlyweds adjust to their new life on this enchanted desert isle and attend to their simple duties, but soon, the heat, the exotic locale, and the suspicious, eccentric natives push Stroszek towards insanity. He finally snaps, tries to kill his wife, then plans to ignite the ammunition dump. Ultimately, soldiers swarm the area, trying to capture the psychotic Stroszek before he blows up the whole island.
Signs of Life is the debut feature from Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Fitzcarraldo; Nosferatu), the director that both Milos Forman and François Truffaut have called "the greatest filmmaker alive today."
Werner Herzog's first feature-length film, Signs of Life is the work of a confident 24-year old filmmaker who knew exactly what he was doing. Many of the stylistic and thematic concerns that would inform Herzog's later films are fully evident here, from his mixture of documentary-like realism and strange, dream-like passages to the bold use of location as character. Set on a remote Greek island during World War II, the slowly paced story unfolds as an injured, recuperating soldier named Stroszek (Peter Brogle) and his new wife Nora (Athina Zacharopoulou) grow accustomed to their slow and quiet life of seclusion. Herzog captures a palpable sense of boredom, but his film is anything but tedious for those who are seduced by its peculiar rhythms and exotic locale. As Stroszek (a name later used as the title of one of Herzog's best-known films) loses his grip on reality and threatens to detonate the munitions dump he's been assigned to care for, Signs of Life attains an elusive, mystical quality that makes it linger in the memory long after you've seen it. New Yorker Video's DVD release is also blessed by a fascinating audio commentary by Herzog devotee Norman Hill and the director himself, whose vivid memories of making Signs of Life add further insight into the curious qualities of this odd yet unforgettable film. --Jeff Shannon
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