The White Diamond (2004) User Reviews

Herzog in Love

[mstomaso · 8/10 · 25 April 2008]

Once again, the most adventurous documentary film maker of our time returns to his most beloved subjects and his most beloved setting. The White Diamond is about an obsessed man who wants to conquer a relatively unexplored frontier in the South American rain forest. Yet this is no sequel or remake of the amazing Herzog film Aguirre. Rather, in The White Diamond, Herzog returns to his beloved rain forest to tell the story of Dr. Graham Dorrington's struggle to build and fly an ultra-light helium airship as a way to explore the resources and ecology of the South American rain forest canopy.

Unlike many of Herzog's recent films, The White Diamond has an irrepressibly upbeat tone, as Herzog seems - as he can seemingly only do in South America - to celebrate the simultaneous absurdity and brilliance of the human spirit. Like Little Dieter, Fitzcarraldo, Rescue Dawn and Kaspar Hauser, The White Diamond is about remarkable people who do remarkable things. And like almost all of Herzog's portfolio, the photography and soundtrack are magnificent.

Herzog appears quite often in this film, and, as he has done frequently in recent times, gives us a bit more of a view of his interior world. Unlike Grizzly Man, however, this is not the dark, constrained hostility of the great director's view of life, but rather the hopeful Herzog who is interested in what makes people tick. And, unlike many of his films, he seems to like what he sees this time.

The White Diamond occasionally tangentializes away from the main story to talk to us about things that inspire the local inhabitants of the rain forest where the story takes place. A mysterious cave is explored, but the mystery is preserved in deference to the wishes of a local tribe. The poet philosopher of Dorrington's team is a local Rastafarian herbalist who finds tranquility and joy in everything, but whose rooster is his major inspiration. And then there are Herzog and Dorrington themselves, who are a whole different story. Some of Dorrington's incessant commentary can be a little annoying, but I believe Herzog left it in the film to give us a clear sense of the man himself - for which I can not fault the director.

Literally and spiritually uplifting, The White Diamond is a truly lovely film which uses setting and story to create a lasting impression. Like most of Herzog's films, it bears intense, wide-awake, and repeated scrutiny, and is worth thinking about afterward.

Not among Herzog's best.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 December 2011]

I have recently discovered that Werner Herzog's greatest strength as a director isn't his fictionalized films (such as "Fitzcarraldo", "Aguire: The Wrath of God" and his remake of "Nosferatu") but his documentaries. Early in his career and later after he became a well respected filmmaker he mostly made documentaries--and all of them have been very good. In fact, several I have seen blew me away because of the lengths to which he's gone to make these documentaries--every bit as logistically difficult as his fictional films set in South America (which are legendary for their awfulness due to them being made in the middle of no where--such as well within the Amazon rain forest). So far, I've seen Herzog make films in Antarctica, inside French caves, death row and Siberia! He certainly is willing to go just about anywhere or do anything to make these films! In the case of "The White Diamond", Herzog and his crew trek to the middle of nowhere in Guyana, South America. They are going to one of the largest and most difficult to reach waterfalls in the world. And, what makes this unique is that one of the folks will be using an extremely tiny dirigible to go up to the very edge of the falls and film it in a way no one else could.

Now you'd think that this would be THE focus of the movie, but at times the film took huge deviations and spent a lot of time talking about the deaths of film makers in some very dangerous situations--such as the one killed by a gorilla in Central Africa. These stories were very interesting but would have been best to put in their own film. Instead, very little actual footage of the falls and the jungle are in the film compared to what could have been there. Also, there were LOTS of shots that I am sure Herzog loved (such as closeups of lizards, bugs, people philosophizing, etc.) but combined with the discordant music, it just lost me--as did the guy break dancing near the edge of the falls. As I said, I've really enjoyed other documentaries he's made but this one was difficult to enjoy or complete. I respect what he was trying to do--it's just not among his best work. The best thing about this were the shots of the falls--but there wasn't nearly enough of this nor were there shots FROM the dirigible.

more like a poem than a documentary

[Buddy-51 · 7/10 · 26 November 2006]

In "The White Diamond," famed documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog has fashioned a quirky, visually beautiful tribute to all the risk takers and dreamers who make exploration and discovery possible.

Herzog has chosen for his subject Dr. Graham Dorrington, an aeronautics engineer who has invented a small, helium-powered airship that allows him to fly over and into the canopy of the South American rainforest in order to study the richly varied life forms that inhabit that hitherto unexplored area of the planet's biosphere. Dorrington, who comes across as part humanitarian scientist and part lovable crackpot, is nothing if not eager to share his adventures with Herzog and his crew of brave filmmakers.

Even though there is much of interest in the setting-up stage of the experiment and the short history of aviation Herzog provides at the beginning, the movie itself is almost so lackadaisical in its approach that it often feels unfocused and devoid of passion, but once Dorrington and Herzog himself are airborne, with the camera moving in for unbelievably tight close-ups of the creatures living within the soaring treetops, the movie becomes a treasure trove of rare and wonderful sights that even the least nature-oriented among us will find impossible to forget.

This is one of the least flashy documentary films you will ever see. For despite the very real risks to life and limb involved in the project, this is a work that finds its beauty and drama in the serene majesty of the setting and the elegant simplicity of the airship itself. More mood piece than scientific document, "The White Diamond" should appeal as much to the poet as to the adventurer in all of us.

Herzog is a "gutsy" documentary filmmaker

[nienhuis · 10/10 · 3 December 2005]

I like Herzog's films generally, but I think that he is most satisfying as a documentary filmmaker. It seems to me that Herzog is not really interested in "story," the aesthetic feature which dominates the response of probably about 99% of the people who watch films in the United States. Herzog is interested, it seems to me, in visceral experiences, and the documentary form frees him more to explore this kind of experience. I found this film thrilling. What is it "about"? There are lots of false leads for those viewers who want to reduce it to something package-able, but I don't think it's about "obsession," as the Netflix blurb suggests. I also don't think it's simply about Dorrington, the Guyanese rain forest, adventure, or "atonement," which is another Netflix suggestion. I think that, as Herzog would have it, the film is about something ineffable, perhaps whatever is behind that mammoth waterfall where millions of swifts live. Is that cave a metaphor for the world the camera is always trying to connect us to? It doesn't matter. I think Herzog wants us to "experience" this film rather than to analyze it. Herzog seems to me to make films by following his gut instincts and there are times when his cinematic choices are thrilling. I am especially fond of his courage with long takes, holding the camera on Dorrington's confessions long after we have become uncomfortable with them. I think Herzog is forcing us to experience Dorrington as a human being. If we choose to distance ourselves with analysis, that is our choice and I suspect that Herzog would shrug that response off and simply make another movie.

Ecstasy

[Zen Bones · 15 January 2006]

Herzog's films are often about rulebreakers, visionaries and daredevils, something which he has always been himself. Being a daredevil flirting with death makes one feel alive, which is no small thing, but being a daredevil flirting with something even larger than death, is ecstasy. In this film, Herzog, his film crew and a small band of scientists headed by aeronautical engineer Graham Dorrington, head off to a remote area of Guyana to fly a newfangled zeppelin just a toe's length above the treetops of the jungle. Dorrington has his legitimate reasons for the usefulness of his invention, as does Herzog in documenting what may be an important new discovery in science and technology. But both of these men, as well as us in the audience, see these men's laughably primitive jabs at besting nature shrunken by the grandeur of the nature surrounding them. From the fierce power of the waterfall where they are camped out, to the unfathomable grace and sheer numbers of the birds who dwell behind it, the plight of two little men in a motorized air balloon is almost comical. I say almost because a man died in such an attempt ten years earlier - a scene that is described in chillingly vivid detail by Dorrington. Also, there is a kind of nobility in man's stubborn desire to defy his relatively scrawny limitations against nature. Whether it's Fitzcarraldo dragging a steamship over a mountain, Herzog himself trying to make the steamship climb the mountain for his film, or Dr. Dorrington sailing the skies in a contraption that seems as fragile as a butterfly, the dream is everything. The dreams of Herzog's characters - be they real or fictional - are usually short-lived, but at least the dreams do come alive briefly. If I could sum up everything that is great in Herzog's films, it would be in one awesome scene in this film where Herzog shoots the upside-down reflection of the mighty waterfall in a falling drop of rain. This moment, this reflection, this drop of rain is as temporary as life, but in it is the entire universe in all of its beauty, majesty and fragility. If that's not ecstasy, I don't know what is!

Sudden outbursts of enormous beauty

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 5 February 2006]

Werner Herzog's The White Diamond, a documentary about the exploits of Dr. Graham Dorrington, an engineer at St. Mary's College in London, England, might have been called "Little Graham Needs To Fly". Dorrington is a solitary dreamer who is eager to explore wilderness areas and tropical rain forests in a helium-filled airship. In particular, he wants to explore the rain forest canopy of Guyana and Werner Herzog brings his camera and his best narrative voice along for the ride. The film is both the story of a man and his dreams and an ode to an unspoiled wilderness that has so far withstood man's insatiable need for "progress".

Like other Herzog films I have seen recently, there are moments of involving action pitting man against nature, along with stretches of dullness and sudden outbursts of enormous beauty. Just to watch the flocks of swifts fly in formation above Kaieteur Falls, a waterfall four times the height of Niagara, backed by the cello of Ernst Reijseger and the chorus of the Tenore E Cuncordu De Orosei, is an experience in itself worth the price of admission.

The film begins with a brief overview of the history of flight including scenes of the horrific crash of the Hindenburg Zeppelin in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937, a tragedy that ended the dream of travel in lighter than air vehicles. The film then shifts to Guyana where Dorrington is in the process of assembling a two-person airship to help him make his journey and confront his past demons. Dieter is a thoughtful man though given to childlike outbursts of enthusiasm. He dreams of "drifting with the motors off in the peace and quiet, quietly floating above these forests in the mist". Though Herzog seems to want to portray all his protagonists as slightly mad, Dorrington appears too grounded to fulfill the director's wishes. His purpose contains elements of both inner and outer exploration. He wants to move on from a tragic accident that occurred eleven years ago when his friend and companion Dieter Plage was killed while flying one of his airships.

Dorrington is reluctant at first to discuss Dieter and his tragic end, but later recounts in agonizing detail the precise details of the accident for which he blames himself. In a scene later revealed to have been staged, Herzog and Graham argue about whether cameras should be allowed on the test flight of his airship christened The White Diamond by a local miner, but Herzog prevails because he fears that it may be the only flight that will take place. We sense throughout the early part of the film that any flight is dangerous and extreme precautions are taken to ensure safety. There are other peripheral characters that we have come to expect from Herzog.

A young cook does a Michael Jackson dance to hip hop music while standing on the edge of a cliff and we meet Mark Anthony Yhap, a diamond miner whose eloquent philosophy contrasts sharply with the more inner-directed Dorrington and he waxes poetic when talking about his beloved rooster. Yhap is a Rastafarian, an African religion that believes that Haile Sellassie is the living God. Yhap wants to fly so that he can visit his family in Spain whom he hasn't seen in many years and his contact information appears in the credits. All this is peripheral to the main event, however, and as we soar over the rain forest, we forget Herzog's description of nature as "a brutal place full of murder and cruel indifference" and simply bathe in its majesty.

Fascinating scenery but lacking coherence

[steeptrails · 7/10 · 6 April 2006]

This documentary is filled with beautiful scenery and some delightful music, and lots of tedious technical information about the history of airships, but it ultimately fails because of a lack of focus; Herzog just couldn't seem to decide on the subject of his documentary. With the opening footage we're led to believe it's about airships, but then we're taken to the laboratory of Dr Dorrington who gives us an animated, and technically interesting, description of his wind tunnel and the effects of boundary layers on laminar air flow over airships. At the end of the laboratory tour we hear Herzog's voice somewhere off stage asking Dr Dorrington to tell us about what happened to his hand. We see the hand, missing two fingers, and then Dorrington begins to tell us about his youth and his interest in rockets and how he could have lost his life but instead lost the two fingers. And then we're transported to South America. Well, we eventually get to see the beautiful scenery in the rain forest and we hear about the ghosts of Dorrington's past but we never understand just what it was that's been documented here. It could have been shortened by 30 minutes and made into an interesting film. But it's definitely worth sitting through to see the (all too brief) footage of the Cliff Dance, accompanied by Sric Spitzer's and Lisa Stern's beautiful music, as well as their second song played over the end credits. But the film as a whole just doesn't work.

Beautiful documentary that engages you despite being dramatically false

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 16 January 2006]

I am a huge Werner Herzog fan. His early films filled me with a wonderful sense of what movies could do and so hooked me at a young age on the most powerful of all drugs, celluloid.

More than his fiction films I am a fan of Herzog's documentaries. There is something about the way he sees a subject that opens your eyes to things other than the subject at hand. Often his documentaries are almost something else, his Lessons in the Darkness about the oil well fires in Kuwait is structured as an aliens arrival on earth. Its a haunting film that is more magical and informative than the similar IMAX film Fires of Kuwait.

The White Diamond, is on the face of it the story of the building of an airship to study the canopy of the rain forests. It is also, as Werner Herzog tells it, the story of the search for absolution for the death of the inventors friend. I will certainly buy the first part, but I highly doubt the second.

This is simply one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. The shots of the balloon in flight, the waterfall, the birds that live by the falls and the life in the canopy make this the first time I ever wanted to own the biggest and best TV ever made just so I could see these images. I doubt that other than on a rare occasion you'll ever have seen anything as beautiful.

Herzog also introduces us to some real characters Dr Dorrington, the inventor of the airship is a man of great passion. Mark Anthony Yhap, a man hired to help porter materials is probably worthy a film himself. Also the rest of the crew are also intriguing characters for the brief period they cross the screen. It is the mix of people and image that make this film work as well as it does.

The trouble is that the film almost doesn't work. As a narrative the film is sloppy and unfocused. We are told about the cave behind the falls where the birds live and where no one has ever gone.We see a camera lowered down to a climber so footage inside the cave can be shot, only to be told we will not be shown the footage. It is only sometime later that we are told why, what is in the cave is a legend and to reveal whats there could up set the belief of the population. Its an odd way round the subject and feels completely backwards. The real trouble with the film is the way Herzog hammers away at Dorrington about the death of a friend some years earlier when a ship he had made got caught up in the trees. Dorrington was in no way responsible for the accident of the death (other than he built the ship that was involved) but Herzog trumpets the point over and over in order to give some dramatic tension to what appeared to be a pretty straight forward test flight of the airship. It adds a false note that almost sinks the film...from which it recovers from when ever we see the ship in flight or get away from the morbid subject.

Definitely worth seeing. Its a flawed masterpiece that's a must in High Definition or on a really good TV.

Up in the Air

[sol- · 6/10 · 10 April 2016]

Hoping to fly a helium airship over the rainforests of Guyana, scientist Graham Dorrington is convinced to let Werner Herzog film his airborne journey in this curious documentary from the acclaimed director of 'Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes' and 'Where the Green Ants Dream'. The beauty of untouched natural landscapes are a focal point in Herzog's fiction films and the shots of the rainforest are a clear highlight here, with extreme close-ups on the native flora and fauna. Only a handful of minutes are spent on the beauty of the rainforest though, and the rest of the film is uneven as Herzog flicks back and forth between Graham's passion for air travel, the hopes and dreams of a local diamond miner and Graham's fears of tragedy in-flight. Much of the film, in fact, pivots around how Graham attempted the voyage earlier, also with a cinematographer, and how the cameraman died in an accident while aboard. Herzog never really captures the risks involved with his daring decision to accompany Graham (after all, he survived to make this film and others) but it is pointed how Herzog crafts the doco around Graham not only capturing unchartered territory but also atoning for past mistakes and feelings of guilt. One's mileage with the film is likely to vary though depending on how one engages with this back-story. The rainforest shots are great, but they are just a small part of the overall product here.

The landscape of the soul

[thao · 9/10 · 28 March 2008]

Herzog loves to explore the nature within. He has been doing this ever since he started out as a filmmaker. Aguirre, Wrath of God is a good example. There nature mirrors what is happening with in the persons. He does that same thing here.

A lesser filmmaker would only have concentrated on the technical marvel and the landscape. He/she would have overlooked the dreams and life of Marc Anthony Yhap (a hired hand) and Graham Dorrington's bleeding heart because of mistakes in the past. Inner landscape which are just as fascinating as the thousands of birds diving under the waterfall or the reflection in the raindrop.

I thought this film was like a meditation on life, past, present, dreams, failures, cultures and harmony with nature. I loved how Herzog would keep the shots longer than most directors would have, like when Graham Dorrington puts on his jet suit and pretend to fly like superman. And the landscape pictures where just breathtaking.

This is one of Herzog's best film, and that's saying a lot.

my god, that shot with birds and waterfall in the end

[mehobulls · 7/10 · 24 September 2020]

A tribute to those early pioneers who first ventured into the realms of the skies, sometimes victorious, others fatally wounded, always chasing dreams with the zeal of children and lunatics. Paradoxically the White Diamond soon becomes invisible to our eyes like a dull zeppelin deflating rapidly, and Herzog finds himself wandering, fighting for breath, chasing minutiae and clearly fascinated by the waterfall.

One of Herzog's Best

[bertseymour7 · 9/10 · 22 July 2008]

This is a lyrical film more than anything. Herzog refuses to classify his documentaries as "documentaries" which I respect. Truthfully this isn't a straight forward documentary even if it does follow one man's quest to get his air ship to float above Guyana.

Herzog is an observer more than anything and we see that in how his documentary is assembled, he does not force anything and he will leave his camera on people for longer than you would expect so that they will feel compelled to say something else.

A random man will come up and start talking and Herzog will focus on him for several minutes. This film goes alongside Herzog's other films that represent men with near impossible dreams.

Good

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 7/10 · 21 September 2008]

This film starts with an overview of the history of flight, especially the non-mechanical sort, and, of course, ends with scenes of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937, which kyboshed the dream of lighter than air vehicles as practical instruments of travel. Then, the film follows the obsessive modern flotative folly of aeronautical engineer, Dr. Graham Dorrington, of St. Mary's College in London, England, and his attempt to use a miniature blimp (which is diamond shaped and white) to circumnavigate the forest canopy in Guyana, in order to a) vindicate the death of a friend of his, documentary cinematographer Dieter Plage a decade before when an earlier blimp got tangled in Sumatran trees, and the man fell to his death trying to free himself from it during a storm, as well as b) ostensibly find out much about the canopy's resources for commercial development. Dorrington is a bit of a nutty guy, albeit rather tame by Herzogian standards. He lost two fingers on his left hand when, as a teen, he forgot to let go of a small rocket he was testing. Like most Herzog 'documentaries,' though, the term must be loosely applied, for Herzog is not merely recording Dorrington's obsession, but financing the expedition. This is made clear when, on the mini-blimp's maiden flight, Herzog insists that he take his camera along for the ride, in case it is the only flight the vehicle makes, and chides Dorrington's desire to test it alone, first, as stupid, and the worst sort of stupid. His rationale: 'I cannot ask a cinematographer to get in an airship before I test it myself.' It has been reported that much of that scene was scripted, but so what? Herzog has never been a literalist, no more than his pal Kinski was.

The White Diamond is a minor film in Herzog's oeuvre, and much too digressive, even if a far better film than any other filmmaker could do with the materials at hand, but one wishes the DVD company, Wellspring, would have included some extra features, like a commentary by Herzog. All we get are a Herzog filmography, and some trailers- labeled as both Trailers and Coming Attractions. We don't even get this film's trailer in the bargain. But, why be grounded when this film is dedicated to the very antipodes?

Weird forced dialogues throughout

[mushroomalice · 5/10 · 23 December 2007]

Is it just me or is there a constant feeling that there's a lot of set up dialogues and impromptu pauses to force out speeches?

Like the instances of Marc Anthony saying "yea..white diamond..yea..i love it..yea.." (this goes on for 2 minutes and happens A lot to different people throughout the film) and Dorrington being strapped onto the pipe apparatus in his workshop and pretending to fly for far too long looking kind of, as the film puts it, stupid stupidity?

Don't get me wrong though, this has got some of the best footage and music score i've seen and heard, but is it really trying far too hard to be a no holds barred documentary? I would gladly give it an 8, but the weird forced and set up dialogues really brought it down.

Dreamer Herzog's Portrait of a Dreamer

[aliasanythingyouwant · 31 December 2005]

The dream of flight is the dream of being one with the birds, one with Nature. To break gravity's hold means to escape human limitation, to transcend the banal and achieve a purer, lighter, truer existence. Such is the goal of people like Graham Dorrington, the subject of Werner Herzog's documentary The White Diamond.

Dorrington has been fascinated with flight since he was a boy messing with rockets (and losing a couple fingers in the process). To soar weightless over the earth is for Dorrington literally a dream; he sees himself floating over cities in his sleep. He seeks to realize his dream in a specially designed airship, a pygmy blimp shaped like a giant ball with a conical tail, a flimsy frame gondola dangling below it. Not content with flying the ship over the dull English countryside, Dorrington journeys with it to Guyana, intending to guide it over the unexplored jungle canopy. His quest, which seems only mildly insane (compared to activities detailed in other Werner Herzog films), is lent extra urgency by his guilt over the death of a colleague, the jungle cinematographer Dieter Plage, who crashed a vehicle similar to Dorrington's White Diamond (its name comes from its resemblance to the gem) during an earlier expedition.

Werner Herzog has tackled characters like Dorrington before, in both fiction (Fitzcarraldo) and non-fiction (Little Dieter Needs to Fly) films. What seems to fascinate Herzog is the single-mindedness of these men, their willingness to dare destruction in the name of achieving some goal whose significance is apparent only to them. Herzog relates to these men, because he himself is a man given to folly; the quest of Fitzcarraldo, to bring opera to the Amazon via riverboat, is scarcely less mad, less potentially disastrous, than Herzog's own quest to film the story as realistically as possible (real jungle, real riverboat). Not content to merely record the craziness of others, Herzog seems motivated to join in it. The jungle provides a perfect proving ground for people like Herzog and Dorrington; the everyday world doesn't have the right dimensions, the right sprawling spaces, the right sense of teeming, hostile life, to match these men's expansive visions. Herzog, no longer the mad genius of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (the jungle is no longer a surrealistic hell for Herzog, but a place of spiritual majesty), has honed his craft to a fine edge. He tells his story efficiently, paints his portrait of Dorrington precisely, revealing the guilt beneath his gentle eccentricity. Dorrington is the sort of man who always seems to be looking somewhere else; his mind seems always on the verge of wandering into some kind of reverie. But it's not only his dream of flight that distracts him; he's haunted by his perceived culpability in the death of Dieter, and seems driven by the need for atonement.

Herzog's aim in The White Diamond is to correlate the random, incomprehensible beauty of the jungle with the randomness and mystery of human obsession. The airship experiment is carried out near a giant waterfall called Kaieteur (it's four times higher than Niagara Falls), and in a cave behind the falls roost up to a million swifts, which Herzog films soaring and swirling through the air, and swooping in endless streams into the unexplored void behind the watery curtain of the falls. A climber endeavors to film the cave beyond the falls at one point, but his footage has been left out of the film at the behest of the natives, who believe that to reveal the truth of the cave, which they hold to be filled with mythic monsters, would be to destroy some essential part of their culture. The eternally hidden cave becomes a metaphor for that which is unknowable, not only in Nature but in the human heart, and specifically in men like Dorrington, who, like the swifts as they dance and dart through the air, and plummet into the darkness of their cave, are driven by impulses no one else can understand, an inner-music no one else can hear. There's a whiff of New Age jive to all this, as there is in much of Herzog's work, but what the film may lack in philosophical weight it makes up for in pure imagist excitement. Even working in DV, which doesn't make for the kind of haunting effects film can achieve, Herzog manages to evoke the wonder, the peril, the profound mystery of the jungle. The sky may call to Dorrington, but the jungle has always called to Herzog, and in The White Diamond the two obsessions merge to form something joyous, inscrutable and lurkingly dangerous.

One of Herzog's finest

[kinojunkie · 10/10 · 6 June 2006]

Werner Herzog's work is some of the most incredible material ever contributed to the history of cinema and I consider this film to be amongst the finest of the roughly 35 films of his I've seen. This documentary about a man obsessed (of course) with his project of building a large air- balloon to explore the canopy of the jungle is handled in a style that feels like Werner has it down to a clockwork. A passionate, refined, beautiful clockwork that is. It's amazing how poetic and lyrical the images in this film are and all of Herzog's ranting about finding an "ecstatic truth" really comes full swing here. The film isn't so much about the man - or the balloon. It's the film as a whole that is somehow magically able to reflect the bigger questions about the world and our place in it. It's amazing that this shot-on-video minimalist film with a somewhat sloppy narrative is so powerful. Better than Grizzly Man, Wheel of Time and Little Dieter. Wow.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

[frankenbenz · 8/10 · 22 May 2008]

Werner Herzog's The White Diamond is further evidence the German director possesses a one-of-a-kind wonderment and curiosity with the world around him. No other filmmaker possesses Herzog's child-like innocence and this is precisely why no other filmmaker can capture the bizarre and touching, magic-realism common in many Herzog films.

WD is familiar Herzog ground, this time his fixation with obsessed eccentrics leads his lens to Dr. Graham Dorrington, a man determined to build a zeppelin-like flying machine to explore the seldom seen canopy of the South American rain forest. Complicating matters, Dorrington's impossible dream is haunted by a tragic accident that cost his colleague (biologist) Dieter Plage his life.

There's no question Herzog himself is an obsessed eccentric and we're witness to this when he shares screen time with Dorrington, each of them battling to make their vision a reality. In one telling scene we watch as Herzog's undaunted will and laughably adolescent logic trumps Dorrington's overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility. As this scene plays out and things do go wrong, you realize Herzog has no problem sacrificing everything - including his life- to make his film. You can't help but think of Fitzcarraldo and how powerful (and possibly insane) the will of this man truly is. As he's strapped into the zeppelin before its maiden flight, Herzog grips his camera and defines his unwavering faith by declaring: "In cinema we trust."

WD isn't without its flaws, one of which is Herzog's overzealous lust to portray the Guyanese guide Marc Anthony as a mythical sage. Marc is a peaceful and serene man, but Herzog's camera lingers on him to a point where an act is coaxed out of Marc, one not nearly as profound as Herzog wishes it to be. But there are so many other moments of sheer magic that you can't help but excuse Herzog for the same naïveté that more often than not, elevates his films to a special place. Perhaps the most poetic moment in the film is when another of the local guides dances atop a rock formation adjacent to the mystical and daunting Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana. These same falls boast a legend that no man has ever explored behind the falls and when Herzog manages to film images of this no- man's land, he opts to not show the images out of respect for the local mythology. Few filmmakers would ever show such reverence for preserving myth than someone so deft at creating them himself.

http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/

It feels a little incomplete but there are still beautiful moments in here

[Red-Barracuda · 8/10 · 6 June 2017]

I think it wouldn't be unfair to describe The White Diamond as a fairly minor Werner Herzog documentary. The great German has made several truly excellent ones of course and while this one is still good by general standards, it definitely doesn't add up to as much as his better work in this field. Like many of his films, documentary or fiction, this one focuses on an obsessive eccentric, in this case Dr. Graham Dorrington who is a designer of experimental aircraft. We follow him as he attempts to get his new invention, a small mobile air balloon called the White Diamond, to navigate over the jungle canopy in Guyana and allow for the examination of this largely unexplored natural world.

The narrative is underpinned by not only a dream but also a past nightmare. In 1992 Dorrington was involved in an expedition where the film-maker Dieter Plage was killed while flying one of his airships over a jungle in Sumatra. This event clearly still haunts Dorrington even ten years later and adds a layer of dread to the undertaking we watch unfold in Guyana. The scene where he recounts the events that led to Plage's death are haunting and hard to forget and do add some depth to proceedings. But the film is probably best when it focuses on the beauties and dangers of the Amazon jungle. Herzog has always had an ability at capturing nature in unusual, yet spectacular ways and here is no different with amazing footage of a massive waterfall and close-up shots of the almost alien-like creatures of the rainforest. Despite being quite a typical Herzogian character Dorrington is less eccentric than usual, the other key character is a local Rastafarian called Marc Anthony who assists with the expedition; while his diversions on topics such as healing plants, his lost family in Spain and his pet rooster all add colour, they also feel slightly like padding to a certain extent. The documentary as a whole is pretty unstructured and doesn't really have a proper ending in many ways so it does feel like a Herzog film which went with an interesting idea which ultimately didn't play itself out as was probably hoped. I do have to say that while I am being a bit critical it is only because Herzog is such a good film-maker and this one had the potential for more. Nevertheless, there is still much to appreciate here and while the sum of parts are greater than the whole; there are still many moments of genuine interest to be found. Despite a few drawbacks this still remains a film definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of Herzog's unique style.

oh boy

[kacperworkon · 10/10 · 16 July 2020]

I am not sure what happened in this movie. I remember the protagonist, the dead guy, the black guy and narrative. Even though the main character, scientist, seems to be overwhelmed with his passion toward his field and research via DIY-if-you-have-PhD technology, I remember they all were people with their strangeness. I remember eyes of the scientist and the black guy. Different gaze and attitude, when it comes to perspective on life as it is. The only Herzog movie I would preserve with no second thought, no doubt about that. A must see.

Engineers in Guyana and Herzog at his near best

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 26 March 2015]

THE WHITE DIAMOND is another Werner Herzog documentary with the film-maker doing what he does best: chronicling the efforts of a passionate, some might say obsessed, outsider to fulfil his plans in a hostile jungle environment. This one sees a British engineer chasing his lifetime ambition of flying his self-made airship above a huge South American waterfall.

The premise is straightforward but as usual Herzog uses it as a mere basis to explore his true obsessions. Death is a subject which hangs heavy over the production throughout, while the beauty of nature comes to light in some exemplary cinematography. I particularly enjoyed the way that some Guyanan locals become important to the story; their interviews are a highlight. The scenes of the floating airship have an ethereal quality to them, familiar from the likes of FITZCARRALDO. As usual, it's the human interest that makes this documentary so moving, so engrossing to watch, and another feather in the cap of the celebrated director.

Certainly not a masterpiece.

[will_phill · 3/10 · 20 February 2012]

Werzog has made some good documentaries, I will not deny him that, but I couldn't help but feel that this film was just poorly made, and totally uninspiring (contrary to what people seem to think of it. The main protagonist (Graham Dorrington) is just unbearable to watch. Awkward, unprofessional and really annoying. Werzog is trying too hard to turn this into an inspiring, deep story, but fails on both fronts. The narration is bad (and often pointless), the story is actually quite boring, often lacked direction (the main focus of the film swerves from Graham Dorrington to Marc Anthony somewhere in the middle) and I had no interest by the time the film finished.

I am so tired of people worshipping directors/filmmakers unconditionally based on one (or a few) good films. Werzog IS a good documentary film-maker, but that does not make this good.

3/10

Herzog and the Oscars

[Stroszeks · 7 July 2006]

Grizzily Man was not even considered for the Oscar nominations in documentary for a reason. This was simply because it was not included on the ballot paper. This was Werener Herzog's choice. He has no time for playing the Hollywood game. Though it would've been wonderful to see him win it, you've got to admire the man's integrity. He remains one of the greatest and most original film makers at work today. The White Diamond is no exception. It starts out almost like a typical BBC documentary, but it quickly becomes apparent that this man is no ordinary professor, but yet another human being with obsessive drive of dreams and vision. Where does Herzog find these people! May he continue to illuminated us.

this guy is my teacher

[ashleighjahne · 10/10 · 31 March 2022]

I've never seen this movie but graham is my teacher at uni and he's an absolute mad dog so I can't imagine a movie he's in would be boring. Can't wait to eventually see it.

If you've ever dreamt of flying...

[sungjoonpark · 10/10 · 19 November 2023]

At the outset, this film is set out to be about one guy's quixotic dream to fly in an airship through the Guyanan rainforest.

However, the film captures something far greater than just that - the stories of the nature documentary filmmaker who died ten years ago in an accident involving the main guy's earlier airship, the stories of the men who live in the village nearby the great waterfall, and Werner's contemplation about the nature of documenting people's dreams.

And when it all comes together, you are left in awe as to the bigger picture of life: the dreams of people and the varied ways they go about accomplishing them. This was a transformative experience for me, and I hope someone watching will find it worth their while to seek out this movie. (available for streaming online (paid) if you look at the right places)

Herzog, back in the Jungle

[tgooderson · 8/10 · 1 May 2012]

Werner Herzog once again goes back to the South American Rainforrest, the setting of his feature films Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde. This time Herzog is in Guyana, one of the less known countries of the continent. A small country, with just 700,000 inhabitants, Guyana shares more in common both historically and culturally with the Caribbean Islands than with its giant neighbours to the south. Herzog is in Guyana to meet Dr Graham Dorrington, an aeronautical engineer who is in the jungle to test his latest airship. The story is tinged with sadness though as in a previous test ten years earlier, Dorrington's cinematographer Dieter Plage was killed.

The film begins with a brief history of aviation and in particular the history of the airship. Herzog discusses the rapid rise and fall of the popularity of airships before and after the Hindenburg disaster. Herzog first meets Dorrington in his lab in London. He is an excitable and intelligent man with grand ambitions of soaring above the jungle canopy, capturing its unspoiled beauty and collecting samples that could be used in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Dorrington is eccentric but focused and it is obvious how much the expedition and test means to him. The tragedy of ten years earlier is only briefly mentioned and leaves the viewer hanging.

Once the action moves to the jungle, the expedition is hit with various problems. There is a bad omen from the outset as a huge storm draws in when the ship is first inflated. Lightning is seen cracking in the background, beneath and deep grey sky. There are more problems as the ship suffers seven technical faults on its maiden flight and the excitable and enthusiastic Dorrington looks like a broken man by the mid point of the film. It is during these initial tests that Herzog meets the stat of the show, a local man named Marc Anthony Yhap. Yhap and other local men were hired to help carry the equipment but when the craft is first inflated, Herzog notices him starring up in wonder at the 'White Diamond' as he calls it. Herzog uses a trick that served him well on Into the Abyss which is to leave the camera rolling once a person has stopped talking. This pressures them into continuing and means they often reveal more. Yhap, despite no formal education speaks with great wisdom and authority and tells the story of his families migration to Europe in the 1960's, leaving him alone. He tells Herzog how much he misses them and hopes that his mother in Spain is able to watch the film. It's a poignant moment.

Once the problems have been ironed out and the airship is flying, Herzog is able to capture some quite extraordinary visuals of the jungle canopy. I watch a lot of Nature Documentaries but this is some of the most incredible footage I've seen. There is one shot in which a camouflaged frog appears to be playing hide and seek with the camera, slowly moving around a branch as the camera follows. It is simply stunning. The most beautiful shot of the film though is thanks to Yhap who takes Herzog through the jungle where he is able to see an entire waterfall through a single drop of rain. It is a majestic sight. A later shot which shows symmetry of the waterfall and thousands of swooping Swallows is also masterful.

The relief on Dorrington's face after his successful flight is palpable. It looks as though a huge weight has been lifted and it is only then, an hour into the film that he reveals to the camera what happened on that fateful day, ten years ago. The story is heartbreaking and makes you realise why Dorrington has come back to complete this test.

This is among Herzog's best documentaries. He has managed to find another engaging story with a single man facing danger and battling against the odds (a constant Herzogian theme). The visuals are stunning and the narrative is informative and exciting. In Dorrington and Yhap, Herzog has discovered two more remarkable characters and the world is better for having them documented.

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