Shot in two days and edited in one day.
This is a short fiction film, that only appears like a (absurd) documentary. The whole story of the film was invented by director Werner Herzog: "The film you mentioned, Last Words (1968), is a film that was done - much of it - during nighttime, while during day I was shooting Signs of Life (1968). And it was about a man who was a musician and I invented a story that he forcefully had to be removed as the last remaining occupant of a small island which was occupied by lepers. And what is so strange about the film: Everybody who tells his story tells it immediately again and then immediately again. So it's a very, an extremely bold way to narrate a story. And I of course completely and utterly invented [it] and loved the kind of music, how they played it..." [Onassis Cultural Center New York, 16 June 2015, transcript and video online]
The isolated island of Spinaloga was a former settlement of lepers (from 1903 to 1957), just as portrayed in this otherwise fictitious experimental short film. Today it can be visited by tourists.