Signs of Life
Director: Werner Herzog
Year Released: 1968
Rating: 2.5
A wounded soldier gets sent to a Greek fort to recover (and do a little guard duty), but the monotony and weirdness of everyday life (visions of windmills, fireworks and a troublesome rooster) affect his mental state. As Herzog's first film it already covers one of the key concepts of his career - man's slipping into madness - and it shows a gift for being able to spot the eccentric, memorable images from life ('without these, we will die,' etc.), though it doesn't quite hold together on a psychological basis - character development is secondary to the dream-like. It would take a true madman - Klaus Kinski - to work with Herzog to bring out the progression to a state of lunacy, which is why the two of them clicked so well.
