Woyzeck (1979)

Werner Herzog’s adaptation of Georg Büchner’s unfinished 19th century play is an often beguiling if muddled character drama.  Centering on a perturbed serviceman (played by Klaus Kinski) whose disconnect with his patronizing superiors and unfaithful mistress drives him to the point of insanity, Woyzeck’s storyline has more in common with the claustrophobic sociopolitical pieces of R.W. Fassbinder than the Wagnerian grandeur typical of Herzog, where madness is induced because of humanity’s desire to conquer the natural world rather than the pressures of organized society.  Despite Herzog’s slight incongruity with the text, his dark absurdism and surreal aesthetic direction remain sharp, and Kinski performs adroitly as a man teetering on the brink of fear and violence.