Reviews

The best of Herzog's shorts, this film documents the mysterious soaring Walter Steiner as he destroys the world ski-flying record in 1974 Yugoslavia.

To be fair, this is not really a documentary about Steiner, the Swiss woodcarver and ski-flyer, nor the sport in general, nor the competition and breaking off the world record, but something more intense and esoteric -- a poem of obsession, ecstasy and escape.

This mesmerizing piece (set to an airy Popol Vuh soundtrack) is marred only by repetitive shots of ski-jump accidents, Herzog's inserting himself into several shots and his unnecessary and clumsy closing line.

Here Herzog sets out to document a small group of British physicians who provide medical supplies and aid to the vast undeveloped interior of tribal eastern Africa.

Werner's fascination with these "flying doctors" seems genuine though comes across as exploitive and poorly realized. He focuses primarily on the indigenous tribes' primitive conditions and quirky cultural differences largely avoiding focusing on the actual doctors the film is named after. Their backgrounds - their motivations - their passion for helping these people through great adversity is hardly touched upon leaving behind a sheen but hollow "National Geographic" short.

It certainly doesn't help that the film's English dialog is spoken over by German narration often without the benefits of English subtitles. And when subtitles are present, they are blocked and very poorly translated.

Still, there are good scenes providing reflection on culture, adaptation to environment and the nature of health care.