This film is based on the haunting stage play by Georg Buchner. Klaus Kinski delivers a wild and stunning performance in a role only he could play. Werner Herzog helmed this cinematization of an anti-military tale of depersonalisation run amok. Utilising the more grotesque elements of German expressionism, combined with his own sense of the outrageous, Herzog plunges us directly into the middle of his story of a soldier who is conditioned to be an unthinking machine. His one vestige of humanity is his love for the beautiful wife, but even this is corrupted.Franz Woyzeck is a hapless, hopeless soldier, alone and powerless in society, assaulted from all sides by forces he cannot control. Abused both physically and psychologically by commanding officers, doctors and his unfaithful wife, Woyzeck struggles to hold on to his humanity and his fragile sanity. In the film's shattering climax, he is finally driven over the brink into madness and murder.
Filmed in the stunningly atmospheric town of Telc, in the Czech republic, its 16th century architecture makes for a visual feast of a backdrop for this rather depressing tale. Kinski's manic energy carries the film and although the ending is at odds with the rest it is still a good example of Herzog at the peak of his career.
