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Where the Green Ants Dream
The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.
Release : | 1984 |
Rating : | 7 |
Studio : | Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Pro-ject Filmproduktion, ZDF, |
Crew : | Production Design, Additional Dialogue, |
Cast : | Ray Barrett Norman Kaye Bruce Spence Nick Lathouris Tony Llewellyn-Jones |
Genre : | Drama |
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Reviews
Just perfect...
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
The geologist Lance Hackett is employed by an Australian mining company to map the subsoil of a desert area covered with ant hills prior to a possible uranium extraction. His work is impeded by some aborigines who explain that this is the place where the green ants dream.Werner Herzog makes great films, and he is quite prolific in what he does. His career sees to be divided between unusual drama and documentaries of different cultures. This film, perhaps more than any other of his work, really blends the two. While not a documentary, it really tries to celebrate aborigine culture.Of all the films based in Australia, this is one of the better ones. It may not be reality, but it is in some ways better than reality. Herzog creates a world that is completely believable.
I also remember this film as life-changing. I saw it at the TIFF many years ago and was baffled by it. There is a small scene in an elevator that I remember as a transcendent cinematic moment. Like so many of Herzog's films, it is deeply moving for reasons that aren't easy to put your finger on - often with Herzog it's an odd juxtaposition, an awkward silence, a strange edit, an inappropriate flash of humour or horror that produce a flash of insight. This film, at the time, seemed conventional by Herzog's standards, but I still left the theatre feeling slightly drugged, always a good sign.
Some idiot claims that this movie is horrible but I would argue that this he/she is mistaken. None of the dialog is improvised though the performances are raw which the previous reviewer might be confusing with improvisation. Most fans of Herzog are also aware that Herzog's dialog is highly stylized and often surreal which may, to close minded people, be misconstrued as trite or childish. Perhaps it is something one has to get used to or maybe Herzog films are best left to those who are willing to view something out of the ordinary. Of course, not everyone will like everything, but opinions that are expressed should only come from people who are informed as an uninformed opinion is like showing a dog a card trick.
Interesting account on the fight for land rights by the Aboriginals who are up against a mining company that do the dirty on them by disturbing the land where the green ants dream! The message comes across through this sometimes messy film.