Herakles

Herzog, aged 19, made his first film and laid the foundations for his entire cinematic oeuvre: the ancient and the modern, hygiene and horror, power and decadence. Inside, bodybuilders work out on gym equipment. Outside, there is an accumulation of disasters: rubbish piling up, explosions, road accidents... The transition from inside to outside is made through questions, each one referring to one of Hercules’ twelve labours: Will he clean the Augean stables?", "Will he triumph over the giants?", etc. Werner Herzog made Herakles (Hercules in Greek) at the age of 19. In less than ten minutes, he lays the foundations for his entire oeuvre: the ancient world and the modern world; hygiene and horror; the irresistible and grotesque nature of the relationship between power and catastrophe." (Emmanuel Burdeau)