Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie Review

40,000 years vs. progress.

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.

Most of us who grew up in Western cultures have a somewhat indistinct idea of human history stretching back a few thousands years at best, at least in terms of what’s been recorded and what is held, perhaps tangentially, in the collective unconscious. But when an Aboriginal character in Werner Herzog’s first English language film Where the Green Ants Dream insists his people have inhabited their land for some 40,000 years, it doesn’t really seem like that much of an exaggeration. There’s a timeless, haunting quality to the Aboriginal people which Herzog utilizes to immense benefit in this film, one which engendered considerable controversy at the time of its release for a typically Herzogian blurring of the lines between fiction and fact. While the general outlines of the story are indeed based on actual events, it probably shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that Herzog invests them all with his deliberate sense of whimsy, not hesitating to slightly bend circumstances to fit his artistic will. Despite the outrage the film engendered in certain Australian quarters, it stands as one of the more impressive outings from this era of Herzog. While Herzog might cynically be referred to as a misanthropologist, in Where the Green Ants Dream he offers a stirring portrait of a native people under assault by the forces of contemporary culture.

The central metaphor of the film, namely those dreaming green ants, turns out to be a figment of Werner Herzog’s imagination, but it serves as a suitably mystical feeling reminder that what’s at stake is an atavistic tie to their environment and nature that the Aborigines feel. In the film, their homeland is under assault by a cartoonishly evil mining company, which is busy blasting the Australian desert to smithereens in a rabid search for uranium (an element which of course has intimations of a holocaust, just to throw a little Herzogian nuclear fuel on the already billowing fire). The Aborigines stage a sit-in of sorts, insisting that the green ants must not be awoken or the world will perish. A young geologist named Lance Hackett (Bruce Spence) acts as a liaison between the mining company and the Aborigines, but the two groups are in their own ways equally immovable objects. As in all “civilized” societies, the conflict ends up in court.

Herzog makes no bones about the irony running rampant throughout Where the Green Ants Dream, with the supposedly civilized Australians coming off as buffoons and the stolid Aborigines virtually defining the phrase “noble savage”. But while the film’s political subtext isn’t particularly subtle, there’s a beautifully (and appropriately) dreamlike ambience suffusing the film, due in large part to the participation of a host of nonprofessional Aborigine performers. These people exude a timeless patience that is virtually palpable at times, something that makes the indignities they suffer all the more unbearable.

A lot of Herzog fans tend to dismiss Where the Green Ants Dream as an example of Herzog at his most precious, but I’d argue that the film actually casts a rather compelling spell while being one of Herzog’s least obfuscatory narrative efforts. The clash of cultures here has a foregone victor, but there’s a sneaking suspicion running just beneath the surface here that dreaming ants may end up conquering even rapacious uranium miners.

Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Where the Green Ants Dream features an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.86:1. To my eyes, this is overall probably the best looking transfer of the bunch in the new Herzog set, and one that perhaps deserves at least a minimally higher score than the other films I also rated a 4.0 for video. The grain field here is very natural looking and (even better) consistent. Wonderfully bright (and at times kind of odd) colors pop vividly against the bleak outback backgrounds. A lot of the film takes place out of doors, and depth of field is outstanding. Herzog also tends to get up close and personal with the two main Aborigine characters, and those shots offer abundant fine detail. The opening montage looks fairly ragged, but it's sourced from archival elements which look like they're blown up from 16mm (a few similar shots show up later in the film). There are a handful of transitory compression artifacts on display, but they're relatively minimal.

Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ironically, though this is an English language film, the Blu-ray's English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is just minimally less full bodied than the German dub (also in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0). That said, there's nothing major to complain about here, with dialogue and such wonderful moments as the digidaroo playing reverberating with vividness. The ubiquitous classical source cues also sound fine. Dialogue is always clear, though some may want to utilize the optional English subtitles to help with some of the thicker accents.

Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 3:04)

Where the Green Ants Dream Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Where the Green Ants Dream may not be "the whole truth and nothing but the truth" in a journalistic sense, but it has a certain ring of authenticity in its depiction of the (im)balance of power in a land where native rights are trampled on. Sound familiar? Of course it does, and if this is Herzog at his least subtle, he's still amazingly visceral and compelling. Technical merits here are excellent and Where the Green Ants Dream comes Highly recommended.