“Lessons of Darkness” is Warner Herzog’s 1992 documentary
about the Kuwait oil fields in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Though it is very
slow at times (and almost painfully so), it is a very powerful and thought
provoking piece which, in my opinion, successfully and accurately captures and
portrays the intensity and urgency of the situation.
The film starts with the quote, "The collapse of the
stellar universe will occur – like creation – in grandiose splendor." The
conflict that is known as the Gulf War resulted in the bombing of the Kuwait
oil fields. The majority of the movie consists of simple shots of the disastrous
yet awesome fires that are accompanied by massive geysers of oil.
Though there is not much dialog, and perhaps even because of
that, there are a lot of times when the audience is free to think about the
consequences of our unnecessary wars. It also has us thinking about the fact
that we have these machines which are used to pump out what appears to be the
very blood of the Earth. As we pan across the oil fields, we see what appears
to be great lakes of dark water, but, as Herzog puts it, it is merely the “oil disguising
itself as water.” The film “Lessons of Darkness” is overall a very intense film
which triggers the realization of our actions.
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