 | | Into the Abyss attempts to tackle an unbiased look at the death penalty. And it does so by looking into the details of a triple murder case in Texas. Director Werner Herzog talks with the family of the murder victims, the two men convicted of the murders, the family of one of the murderers, and people who have worked on death row. Fascinating. It's a real shame that the power and intrigue of this documentary is ruined by Herzog's sloppy story telling. |
I don't hate Herzog. He comes up with some of the most interesting topics ever. Every time I hear about one of his projects I am also intrigued. And then he ruins his own movies. This project falls apart because he can't stay on task. The film opens with a conversation with death row chaplain, where Herzog does the majority of the talking. You never see him, but in every interview he constantly insists on reminding you that he is the one asking the questions. After the chaplain, we spend about five minutes following a sloppily run handheld camera around a cemetery. Then we meet a police officer who investigated the murders.
A woman in a gated community was shot to death in her home, later her son and a friend of his were found dead. Two young men were found in possession of the deceased's cars. One of the two men was sentenced to life in prison, the other was sentenced to death. As we meet both of them young men, they both blame each other for everything that happened, and claim minimal involvement on their part. However, Herzog never fully lets them tell their own story, he takes you to the point of wanting to hear more, and then trails off on another story.
We hop over to a stranger who was not involved in the murder, but met one of the murderer's older brothers. He tells a story of being stabbed with a really long screwdriver once, and then going to work. (I couldn't find the relevance.) Later in the film we meet the wife of one of the murderers. They met after he went to prison, but we are never told how or why, making her involvement in the film mostly confusing.
The most interesting character in the film is the man who used to work as the director of a death row. He oversaw hundreds of state sentenced killings. The big, burly man talks about how witnessing everything that he saw impacted him and his family, and how one day, he just had to walk away, quitting the job and losing a large pension.
Then Herzog wrap up the movie with a quote about hummingbirds. Once again, losing the real subject of his work. This story could be great, unfortunately, Herzog ruins his own movie. 2 out of 5 stars. |
