Lessons of Darkness

Shot in documentary style from the perspective of an almost alien observer the film is an exploration of the ravaged oil fields of postGulf War Kuwait An effective companion to his earlier film Fata Morgana Herzog again perceives the desert as a landscape with its own voice as he glides over seas of oil geyserlike infernos monstrous smoke plumes and ashen roadways With musical accompaniment by Wagner Prokofiev and Pärt to boot he observes the sootcovered creatures allured by the blaze