Cobra Verde (1987)

Just what I expected

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

like many films by Werner Herzog, it seems be one of the examples of war between him and Klaus Kinski. the result - a sort of storm. expected. . because like each film of this fascinating team, "Cobra Verde" is a challenge. direct, powerful, remembering the chaos and transforming the story in pretext. and , in strange way, it is the basic good point. useful for define it as a great film. because nothing surprising is presented by the film. only a large circle of confirmations. and a story about fall. as only reasonable answer.

While I can respect all the work that Werner Herzog and his crew went through to make "Cobra Verde", to me the film is flawed because the main character (played by Klaus Kinski) is too one-dimensional. Once the movie is finished, you really know almost nothing about the guy--he is that big a cypher.The film begins in South America. Francisco Manoel da Silva (Kinski) is a bandit so feared that when he enters towns, just about everyone runs in terror. Despite this, he manages to obtain a job with a Brazilian slave plantation owner. But, Francisco impregnates ALL of the boss' daughters and as punishment is sent to Africa to buy slaves--because the boss figures that the king in Dahomey (today known as Benin) will kill Francisco like he'd done to all the other recent white traders. However, instead, the king welcomes him and Francisco is allowed to renew the slave trade. But, when there is a revolt, Francisco leads an odd army of bare-chested women and he conquers the kingdom. Now he imagines incredible wealth and things look wonderful for the newly christened 'Cobra Verde'. Unfortunately, this was not to be. See the film and see what I mean.This film looks great. As usual, Werner Herzog is willing to go to the most far off places in order to get the look just right. Like several of the previous Herzog-Kinski projects, this one must have been hellishly difficult to make. Unfortunately, like so many other Herzog films, the leading man seems VERY one-dimensional and difficult to accept or relate to because of this lack of depth. Francisco was a bad guy but his motivations, likes, dislikes, and even personality are all lacking. Because of this, although the film is interesting and lovely locales are used, I am only mildly encouraging you to watch it. This film is clearly NOT a film that the average person would enjoy, though I did like the ending in the surf--a fascinating scene and nice ending.

There are more dazzlingly brilliant images in ten minutes of this minor epic than you'll probably find in two dozen of the current brainless hits at the top of the charts: if you want easy laughs and dopey characters, this is not your film.On the surface, Cobra Verde concerns a one-off slightly mad killer who becomes master of an African slave trade; what makes it fascinating is a series of very strange set-pieces: hundreds of half-naked female warriors with spears and red knit caps training on the beach; a daft prince staring into space while his brother in lavish gold garb drinks of out his enemy's half-skull, miles of white flag-wielding messengers stretched into green jungle reaches--its wild! This film is really not much about plot or depth of character but a mad visual adventure and on that level it succeeds in a way that is typical of Werner Herzog's mad follies--it's a macabre feast!

Herzog's final movie with Klaus Kinski. Like many, perhaps all of Herzog's films, there doesn't seem to have been much of a plan going into the picture. It's a story about a white bandit in Brazil who is hired by a sugar plantation owner as an overseer because of his ballsiness. Well, ballsiness has its drawbacks, too: he ends up impregnating all three of the plantation owner's daughters! The plantation owner and his powerful buddies don't want to kill him outright, so they send Kinski to Africa to get slaves from a certain king whom they believe will surely murder him on the spot. Fortunately for Kinski, he gets caught up in a revolution and is freed by a usurper to the throne. This film is often considered to be the least of the Herzog/Kinski collaborations, but I quite liked it. Sure, the story kind of meanders (I think almost all of Herzog's films do with a few exceptions, like Fitzcarraldo, where I think he just got lucky), but Herzog really comes up with some outstanding images. The film is simply beautiful to watch. I loved the soundtrack, too. The score was composed by Popol Vuh, frequent Herzog collaborators, and there's also some great African music (a singing troupe that appears near the end of the picture is particularly hypnotic). And Kinski is pretty awesome. Mostly, it's just his presence, but he has some memorable freakout moments that are every bit as fun as they were in Aguirre the Wrath of God.