EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI

There will be a preview screening and Q&A with Werner Herzog via satellite on March 27th at 18.20.

Werner Herzog’s recent run of remarkable documentaries (Grizzly Man, Cave Of Forgotten Dreams) continues with Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life. The film is primarily an examination of the aftermath of crime for victim and perpetrator alike. In 2000, Texans Michael Perry and Jason Burkett were convicted of the murder of three people; Burkett received life imprisonment, while Perry was given the death sentence. Herzog interviews the detectives who worked on the case, family and friends of the deceased, as well as Burkett and Perry themselves (in the case of the latter, eight days before his execution), building a complex picture of ruined lives. 

Despite his own stated opposition to capital punishment, the director remains impartial, allowing participants to present both sides of the argument on this contentious issue, a process continued in his upcoming Death Row project, a series of portraits of inmates awaiting execution. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)