Mr. Herzog, Can I Give You a Hug?

Today the Coolidge Corner Theater honors the great Werner Herzog with the 2018 Coolidge Award. My German friend (or fiend, for you Herzog nerds out there) Amina told me about the award and events last month, and I nearly hyperventilated, hoping to not miss this opportunity. I double, triple-checked to make sure it was all true, that my favorite film director of all time was going to be a mere few minutes' walk from my apartment. YES YES YES. The evening awards ceremony was already sold out, but the more interesting event, a screening of Into the Inferno, short discussion with a BU professor, and audience Q&A with Herzog, was still open at 1pm. Tickets were acquired, and I was ecstatic beyond belief.

Werner Herzog has made over 60 films and documentaries, all done his way and without influence on his creative and distinct style, an amazing feat considering the majority of film culture and astronomical budgets. Herzog's films discuss some very specific subjects (from the discovery of the earliest cave paintings to an Irishman building an opera house in Peru), and through his keen vision, you're interested in every single film. His documentaries really shine for me, because Herzog narrates, and you hear his voice, his intonation, his Bavarian accent. You hear his dry humor and what's in his mind through the offbeat questions that don't necessarily reflect what's on the screen. Herzog as an artist, a human, through what I can gather from his films, is amazing person, and I want to adopt him as my crazy uncle because I don't think he would adopt me as his niece. But as a prestigious filmmaker with a decades-long career, he was just a cloud of impossibility for me until I had my tickets. I was going to be in the same room as Werner Herzog and hear him speak.

Into the Inferno is Herzog's documentary about volcanoes, a collaboration with Clive Oppenheimer, a volcanologist he met a decade earlier while filming Encounters at the End of the World, a documentary about scientists in Antarctica. They travel to several countries with volcanoes and ask questions about spirituality and even influence on a government. It juxtaposes science with belief systems, and beauty of life and nature with the frightening side of nature in the form of deathly molten magma. Of course we all loved it.

Herzog spoke about how he wasn't afraid of his future as a filmmaker, with independent theaters like the Coolidge and its loyal patrons. He would always have an audience. Have a beacon and make your way towards it; things will fall into place. The audience provided some interesting questions, mostly about the film, and Herzog responded with both serious and humorous answers. I tried to think of a question of my own, but I didn't have anything profound or great to ask except if I could give him a hug. I loved how he wore a casual zip up pullover instead of a blazer to the sold-out afternoon event. Maybe he will spiff up for the award presentation, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.