Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie Review

Size matters.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 20, 2014

Note: This title is currently available as part of Herzog: The Collection.

Has there ever been a more fascinating figure in film than Werner Herzog? This much debated individual, one who elicits both hyperbolic accolades and equally exaggerated derision, has been a seeming force of nature in film for decades, helping to define the New German Cinema (a somewhat later analog to the French New Wave). Herzog’s filmography is rather breathtakingly diverse, traversing both traditional fiction, quasi-biographies, and a large number of documentaries. Through it all, Herzog himself has become the subject of considerable controversy, at times seeming to be as obsessively motivated as some of his film subjects. The auteur’s off kilter blend of nihilism and often black humor has given him and his films a decidedly unique place in contemporary media, to the point that a supposed note Herzog jotted off to his cleaning lady became an internet sensation (it’s actually a brilliantly written parody by Dale Shaw). Shout! Factory, a label which repeatedly stubbed its corporate toe on its last big deluxe boxed set built around the talents of one person (Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection, the only time in my reviewing career I have had to start over from scratch due to a complete recall and reissue) may seem to be throwing caution to the wind by upping the ante with this release. Here there are no fewer than 16 films by Herzog, housed in a handsome hardback booklike case that also features a wealth of text and information about each of the films. Fifteen of the films are new to Blu-ray (Shout's horror imprint Scream Factory released Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre as a standalone a few months ago), and the offerings here cover both iconic films in Herzog's oeuvre as well as some oddities. The extremely handsome packaging offers a 7.5" x 7.5" x 1.5" hardback book exterior casing which houses heavy cardstock pocket holders that contain the discs. Also included are The Werner Herzog Condition by Stephen J. Smith, an appreciation of the director's work with essays about each of the films. The films get even more text in write-ups by Chris Wahl and Brad Prager. Each of the pocket holder pages details the film (or in some cases, films) on each disc, with audio options and special features listed.

Even by Herzogian standards, Even Dwarfs Started Small is bizarre. Lots of people have claimed to see lots of allegorical content in this flat out hallucinatory tale of an island full of small people who are fomenting a revolution against the powers that be (also small people) at some sort of ill defined institution. Herzog dismisses any subtext for the film in his commentary included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, instead insisting that he was merely trying to bring a nightmare vision to life in the film. If that was his intent, he surely succeeded, for Even Dwarfs Started Small is certainly one of the more (bad) dreamlike films in Herzog’s entire oeuvre. Filled with startling, even baffling, imagery, and really next to no narrative arc, the film is a set of disturbing vignettes, seguing seamlessly as most dreams and/or nightmares do, that lodges in some deep atavistic pit of the subconscious and refuses to budge.

Shot in startling black and white on the volcanic atoll of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, the pure physical setting of Even Dwarfs Started Small gives the film part of its unsettling ambience. This is an environment like no other on earth, with sinuous hills that suddenly erupt in outcroppings of rock formations, where huge expanses of barren land just as suddenly contain odd, almost North African looking, stark white structures. Even without the addition of marauding hordes of small people, Even Dwarfs Started Small offers a decidedly alien looking location that only adds to the disconcerting feeling the film often engenders.

Despite Herzog's rather vehement denials, it's next to impossible to view Even Dwarfs Started Small outside of its era and the context which that time provides the film. This was after all the late sixties when all sorts of groups, groups as disparate as African Americans and hippies (of all races), were fighting against the powers that be (or were). Sticking it to The Man was one of the defining characteristics of this epoch, and it's an obvious part of Even Dwarfs Started Small. Perhaps Herzog, in utilizing something as outré as little people, is making the subliminal point that The Man, for all his faults, is us in a very real way. Herzog of course insists he meant no disrespect to little people, and that his intent was purely artistic, a means to the end of depicting a viscerally alien nightmare experience.

One undeniable thing this casting choice does is combine the very Herzogian casserole of horror and comedy in one unforgettable symbol. While some will zero in on the perceived political incorrectness of using a type of person for this reason, there’s no denying that there’s something funny about watching all of the little people marauding around these patently weird environments. It doesn’t matter much what they’re doing in the long run, though it’s here where Herzog brings in some viscerally odd imagery. Something as seemingly banal as a middle aged woman sidling up next to the camera with her back to a stucco like wall is suddenly infused with a palpable sense of menace. Other scenes, including a melée or two, are disturbing if also weirdly comedic (which may disturb some on a whole separate level).

Herzog is intentionally provocative even aside from the little people element. He repeatedly focuses on the island’s chicken population (a bird he rails against in a very amusing part of the included commentary). The chickens cannibalize each other in some unabashedly distasteful scenes. There's also some frankly equally if not even more disturbing imagery involving a dead pig and a monkey that is tied to a crucifix (some reportage suggests the animal is actually crucified, as in killed on the cross, but it's still very much alive and not happy to be in captivity.) Through it all an abandoned car runs circles in a courtyard as if to suggest that any attempt at a linear analysis of this film is probably futile.

Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Even Dwarfs Started Small features an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Shot in black and white by Thomas Mauch, the film offers some high contrast elements which transition well into high definition for the most part. Some of the interior sequences with the hostage tied in the chair suffer from blown out highlights, but this is the exception rather than the rule. There are also two odd anomalies in these sequences at around 21:49 and 56:16 where the image goes rather wonky, looking almost as if it had been shot through a scrim. This may be due to composite source elements, though this doesn't really look exactly like a traditionally blown up 16mm image; it's oddly soft and fuzzy with a gauzy overlay. It's frankly been so long since I've seen this film theatrically that I can't definitively state whether these are inherent to the film or transfer specific. Otherwise, though, the elements are in very good shape aside from some very minimal damage that crops up on the right side of the frame, especially in the opening scenes. Grain structure is intact and organic looking.

Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Even Dwarfs Started Small's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track suffers from some low level buzz running through most of it that becomes quite apparent in the quieter moments of the film or if volume is pushed. The typically odd soundtrack music has variable fidelity, with the bizarre ethnic tune sung by the little girl sounding a little brittle (some of which can be attributed to the actual singing), while the gorgeous African choral music sounds relatively full bodied. Dialogue is clear but slightly boxy sounding in this listenable but slightly problematic track.

Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• English Commentary with Werner Herzog. Herzog is hosted by Norm Hill and joined by actor Crispin Glover in a discussion that is really interesting and frequently hilarious (if you are a fan of Herzog's often dour pronouncements on the state of existence). Herzog's infamous dislike of chickens gets discussed early on here and is worth the price of admission alone. Herzog goes out of his way to dismiss the many allegorical analyses that this film has engendered.

Even Dwarfs Started Small Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is Even Dwarfs Started Small an "exploitation" picture? Herzog of course vehemently denies that, but it's easy to see why little people (and others) got so up in arms when the film was released. The film has some narrative issues, but serves as a potent reminder of what a singular filmmaker Werner Herzog was from almost the first moment he burst upon the international scene. Recommended.