Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Dir: Werner Herzog

2016

****

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World is Werner Herzog exploring the internet, the world wide web and how it has effected the way people connect with one another. It's perhaps not the approach you'd expect on the subject but very much what you'd expect from a Werner Herzog documentary, although it's a little less dreamlike than his previous films. The editing and overall structure is unmistakably Herzog but his whimsy and other-worldly ponderings are restrained somewhat which, from the view point of one of his biggest fans, neither adds nor detracts from the overall production. It is important that this film covers a lot of ground and isn't about social media. Social Media is fast becoming the first and only thing people think about when they think of the internet, Herzog reminds us that there is a lot more to it and that 'social media', as it is now, is probably just a soon to be forgotten flash in the pan compared to what could come next. To be clear, this is an analysis of what could be, rather than just what it was and what it is. There are plenty of facts, many uncommon that should keep even the keenest of computer geeks happy but this is very much a look at something from a distance, a different perspective as it were. Interesting but sensible questions are asked and nothing is sensationalized and for the most part all questions are answered by experts and those responsible for creating the internet in the first place. There is a relaxed fluidity to the film that makes it very easy to watch but it is also structured into chapters that never stray too far from the designated title. Herzog analysis the good, the bad and the ugly in a way no other film maker could and talks to the people no one ever does to revel something quite profound. The title should give some clue to where the film goes, this is very much a film of 'reveries' but then without reverie the internet would never have been created in the first place. It's important to think outside the box from time to time, a structured way of thinking is a stunted way of thinking and you may not be able to foresee the inevitable. There are many ways of making a documentary these days but most films can fit into a category of some description. Expository, Poetic, Observational, Participatory, Reflexive and Performative, Herzog's documentaries can be said to incorporate all of these but there is only Werner Herzog and his films transcend all of these styles. I find that the viewer can learn so much more from Herzog musing about a random subject than if he just churned out expert opinion and simple facts (although he also does this rather well). He's certainly made me feel that there is still hope for the future in the technological world.