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Into the Abyss

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Into the Abyss (2011)

November. 11,2011
|
7.3
|
PG-13
| Crime Documentary
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We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

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Reviews

Acensbart
2011/11/11

Excellent but underrated film

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MoPoshy
2011/11/12

Absolutely brilliant

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Zlatica
2011/11/13

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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Roxie
2011/11/14

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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fireworkslvr-53952
2011/11/15

Overall, I thought this movie showed an interesting perspective. I think there was too much sympathy given to the criminals, however. My main reason for giving this 5 stars is because it was only dedicated to two of the victims when in fact there were three. Please, someone tell me - is there a reason for this???

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SnoopyStyle
2011/11/16

Filmmaker Werner Herzog does a documentary about Michael James Perry. He's on death row in Livingston, Texas scheduled to be executed in 8 days. He was convicted along with his friend Jason Burkett for a triple homicide. They killed a housewife in her home to steal a car and then killed two young people to get passcode for the community gate. This is not really a whodunit unless you believe Burkett or even Perry. It's not impossible to believe them and there are certainly people willing to do that. This is really about the whole society in general. It is about the victims. It is about the daughter who lost her family. It is about Burkett's father who watches his various family members get incarcerated along with him. It is about the friend and Herzog who is more interested in him learning to read as an adult. It is about the executioner who had to quit. This is quite a tapestry of Texan life.

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pengobox
2011/11/17

What struck me about Into The Abyss was that it wasn't so much a true-crime documentary, but more a thoughtful exploration into one crime and its subsequent consequences. I know that Herzog documentaries aren't always the most objective, but while I was watching Into The Abyss, I didn't get the impression that there was a particular theme or message being pushed at me. At some point, Herzog mentions that he is averse to capital punishment, but this opinion does not dominate the documentary.One interesting thing that Herzog did was that he presented the interviews in a particular way. One of the very first interviews is of death row inmate, Matthew Perry, and Herzog then delves deeper by questioning law enforcement, relatives of the deceased, friends of the perpetrators, etc. We immediately learn that Perry is sentenced to die in 8 days, though it is not until the very end that he has died via lethal injection as scheduled. This creates an effective yet not jarring or overly distracting shock for the audience. Someone that they had just witnessed living and talking has died. It is strange and sometimes uncomfortable to process, and I think Herzog had this in mind when he finally put together the film.As a documentary, Into The Abyss was intriguing, engaging, and emotional. It was full of very human interviews; people wept and sighed and stuttered, adding to the realism and the rawness overall. This is not what I would call a "beautiful" film, but it is a film that is thoughtful and well-made. I didn't enjoy this as much as Cave of Forgotten Dreams, but then again, that can be attributed to the difficult subject matter of Into The Abyss. However, after finishing the movie, I wasn't left with any deeper insight or revelations than when I started. This film is undoubtedly well-made and carefully shot, but not as introspective as some of Herzog's other documentary films. I felt the movie skimmed the surface of what Herzog could have potentially addressed: the criminal justice system, capital punishment, the nature of grief and death, etc, yet in the end Into The Abyss seemed kind of bare. I wish Herzog could have just explored the topic(s) touched in Into The Abyss a bit more; nevertheless, I am looking forward to more of his works.

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jzappa
2011/11/18

It's easy to view documentaries as less yielding of creative potential or stylistic freedom since principally it's a matter of holding a lens up to a story that's writing itself, casting itself and no sets have to be built. Werner Herzog has never been limited by this concern.Many documentaries made nowadays are a series of talking heads and graphics montages. Maybe a filmmaker with a sense of humor will throw some ironically relevant music under the info-dumps. And documentary has also become virtually synonymous with issue and message films. Very few seem to find the same spiritual center as a fiction piece. Herzog does.Into the Abyss is about a horrific, random and senseless crime spree that culminates in one of the myriad executions carried out by the state of Texas every year. But it's not a commentary on capital punishment or the society that produced such brainless, directionless criminals. It does something much more brave and original.The movie goes on, the story is told, Herzog interviews his subjects, crime scene videotape details the nightmarish aftermath of atrocity having invaded the most peaceful and complacent of homes, we drive down depressing roads in the modern cultural wasteland of the place where the tragic saga has played out. And yet throughout, there is a tone and inflection imbued with grace, understatement and objectivity. We will experience all too real human pain, sometimes without warning, but we almost don't know what hit us until we've traversed well into the given moment.There is something so simple, so docile, in the face of whatever brutality or doom or emotional quakes, making Herzog's film transcend the identity of a social issue piece or a sensationalistic expose to become an elliptical, humane contemplation of violence, life and loss. Considering Herzog's uncannily unique subjects and treatment in fiction and in documentary for decades---past films have involved entire casts being under hypnosis during shooting or being entirely comprised of dwarfs, or stories about men held captive in dungeons for lifetimes until adulthood---Into the Abyss may seem small potatoes by comparison.But Herzog has often said he doesn't choose projects, that they instead choose him. If that's the case, then his approach as a documentary filmmaker, with works such as this or Grizzly Man or The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, is frankly uncanny, to stand still when he realizes the profundity of a story and simply allow it to wash over him and consume him. How many filmmakers have the wisdom and confidence to master such a process?

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