Into The Abyss: Film Analysis

Life is full of decisions, and one bad one will determine one’s fate. When one is raised not knowing right from wrong, he or she is bound to make a poor decision. In Werner Herzog’s film, Into the Abyss, released in 2011, two young teenagers make a horrible decision that affects the rest of their lives. Both of these boys, having been raised poorly, do not know better than to do something as atrocious as murder. When Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, the two teenage boys, see a nice car in someone’s garage, they decide to steal it, but their plan backfires. The woman, Sandra Stotler, who owns the car is inside and will notice them stealing her car. Perry’s and Burkett’s [text removed] idea is to kill Stotler and get the car keys. After bringing …show more content…
Having no intention for his film to be about capital punishment, Herzog examines the effects of this abhorrent crime on the people that are brought into it. In an interview with Herzog, he declares, “It’s just about a senseless crime and all its ramifications including the death of one of the perpetrators and a triple homicide, the death of three human beings and all the repercussions and all the emptiness and all the wounds that this crime left in other people” (Roberts [text removed]). However, slightly biased in the making of the film, Herzog adds in his interview, “There’s very little debate about capital punishment in the film. But I’m not a proponent of it and I respectfully disagree with the practice” (Roberts [text removed]). A famous German film director, Herzog has directed many films, for instance: Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, and Fitzcarraldo. Herzog’s bias appertains to the fact that he is German and feels that America’s criminal justice system is flawed. Made clear with the other films Herzog has directed, he has never done a film like this one. Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times expresses in a review of the film, “I 've long felt Herzog 's personality is compelling and penetrating, and in evidence I could offer this film about Texans who are so different from the …show more content…
Keeping the tone this way to present sincerity to the victims’ families, Herzog devises a very respectable film. The topic of murder and the discussion of it with others is generally [text removed] approached with respect; Herzog addresses each person he interviews politely, whether it is the murderer or the victim. When Herzog interviews Michael Perry he discloses, “When I talk to you it does not necessarily mean that I have to like you. But I respect you and you are a human being.” A major thing to take note of in the film is that Herzog entirely strays away from using any textual elements, instead using spoken words or images to display his intended effects. Out of consideration, Herzog uses the names of the interviewees as the only text on the screen. Speaking to his subjects courteously and keeping textual elements minimal gives Herzog’s film a reverent