This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it. The German title translates ‘lessons in darkness’.

Lektionen in Finsternis (1992)
  • Rating: (2,121 votes)
  • Runtime:50 minutes
  • Director: Werner Herzog
  • Countries:France, UK, Germany
  • Actor:
    Narrator (voice)
    Werner Herzog
  • Genres:Documentary, Sci-Fi, War
  • Producers:
    Paul Berriff
    producer  
    Werner Herzog
    producer  
    Lucki Stipetic
    producer  
  • Plot: This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it. The German title translates 'lessons in darkness'. Written by Oliver Heidelbach
Lektionen in Finsternis
  • User's comment:Must be seen to be believed by David Cavallo (dcavallo@nyc.rr.com)

    Herzog has been making brilliant films since the late '60s, and frankly it's a bit of a pain in the arse keeping up with such a prolific director.

    However, if you are a fan of his features and staggering documentary work, "Lessons of/in Darkness" demands your immediate attention.

    The film is essentially a birds-eye view (often quite literally) of the plague of oil-choked death, fire, chaos and destruction that resulted from the brief but grotesquely internecine technological blitzkrieg of the Gulf War. Herzog, of course, takes particular interest in the seeming madness of the crews of mercernary American firefighters that are putting out the oil well fires across the deserts.

    Various points on the conflict and its aftermath inevitably bubble to the surface, but arise without overt proselytizing. The images do the majority of the talking.

    And they are eye-popping. Startling, frightening visuals that stand out even in the Herzog canon -- great vistas of blackness and glowing terror that would make any sci-fi director soylent green with envy. They are accompanied by little else: brief interstitials, an almost nonexistent, terribly serious Herzog narrative and a ghostly and elegiac score.

    The short interviews with individuals who suffered are heartbreaking, perhaps all the more so due to their brevity.

    See this.


  • Quotes: Narrator: This was once a forest before it was covered with oil. Everything that looks like water is in actuality oil. Ponds and lakes are spread out all over the land. The oil is treacherous because it reflects the sky. The oil is trying to disguise itself as water. Narrator: Two figures are approaching an oil well. One of them holds a lighted torch. What are they up to? Are they going to rekindle the blaze? Is life without fire become unbearable for them?... Others, seized by madness, follow suit. Now they are content. Now there is something to extinguish again.
  • Also known as: Lessons of Darkness (International - imdb display title, English title), Lessons of Darkness (USA - video title), Apocalisse nel deserto (Italy), Desert Apocalypse (Italy), Lekcje ciemnosci (Poland), Mathimata skotous (Greece - festival title), Mathimata sto skotadi (Greece - festival title), Tanórák a sötétben (Hungary - imdb display title),

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