A fresh and candid glimpse of one of the great masters of cinema at work, by his longtime friend (of more than 25 years) and collaborator (on 10 films) Herbert Golder, BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT chronicles Werner Herzog’s making of the feature film, MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (co-written by Golder), which was nominated for a GOLDEN LION and for Best Screenplay at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, and which stars Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Chloe Sevigny.
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE was inspired by the true story of an actor who committed in reality the crime he was supposed to enact on stage in a production of an ancient Greek play: he murdered his mother. BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT explores the process through which this true story, for which an ancient myth was the catalyst, is transformed back into a fiction—that is, into a Werner Herzog film.
Unlike other documentaries which have been made about Herzog, in which he stares almost defiantly into the camera and, in his inimitable way and in his famous voice, articulates his views on life, this film shows a side of him known only to his friends and close collaborators. Although refreshingly candid and surprisingly revealing, this portrait in no way diminishes Herzog’s mystique—quite the contrary—but it does deepen our appreciation of his humanity, and offers, through Golder’s running commentary—as much an ongoing conversation with Herzog as a conversation with the viewer—an insider’s insight into his craft. Even as we come closer to knowing Herzog more intimately in this film, we also become increasingly aware of his privacy and the deep solitude that in some essential way defines him. Herzog’s idea that film should be, not analysis, but an ‘agitation of the mind,’ informs the telling of the story that unfolds here. Not without its moments of humor and warmth, BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT nonetheless manages to explore, through what we see brought into focus on screen and through Golder’s voiceover narration, some of the most abiding and deepest themes of Herzog’s films.
A conversation with Werner Herzog about Greek drama, more than 25 years ago, led Herzog to ask Golder, then a young classics professor, to work with him in films. Since then he has worked with Herzog in different capacities on ten films, features and documentaries. Himself the author of a number of works on classical and related subjects and a translator of Greek drama for the page and stage, Golder is currently Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University as well as Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning publication, Arion, A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. This film, his directorial debut, is the fruit of that collaboration with Herzog and was inspired by those preoccupations that have been the basis of their relationship.
BALLAD OF A RIGHTEOUS MERCHANT represents a very personal film. It is more than a behind-the-scenes documentary. It explores some of the musings that have been at the core of my friendship with Werner Herzog over the past 25 years. I have always believed that if Sophocles were alive today, he would be making films, working in the most powerful and universal myth-making medium we possess. What drew me to Homer and Sophocles, as a student, was directly connected to what drew me to filmmakers like Kurosawa and Herzog. This film explores that connection. (A conversation about Greek drama more than 25 years ago led Herzog to ask me to work with him in films.) It seemed fitting to tell this story in the context of documenting Herzog working on a feature film we had written together, MY SON MY SON WHAT HAVE YE DONE (2009), which was itself inspired by the disturbing story of a man who sought a mythic— even “Greek tragic”—fate but instead devolved into madness.
In the final analysis, this is a film that offers an unprecedentedly intimate and candid portrait of one of the great, and arguably most visionary, masters of cinema at work. Because the film was shot by me, a close friend and collaborator, Herzog’s usual guard is down, and we see him as only those close to him are ever in a position to. My portrait, however, in no way diminishes Herzog’s mystique, on the contrary, but it does deepen our appreciation of his humanity, and offers an insider’s insight into his craft.