The resulting film, Into The Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life, is one of Herzog's most probing and moving works in recent memory. Herzog's reputation has blossomed in recent years into this stentorian, nearly self-parodic diatribist railing regularly against the cruelty of nature. He seems strangely humbled by his subject matter here; his now trademark narration is gone, and there's an earnestness and humanity in his voice even as he talks to the darkest of his subjects.
But as revealing as this film is of Herzog, it's the humanity of his subjects that resonates. A lesser film would have called more attention to the incongruities that gently appear throughout the film (such as the lip service paid to Christianity, despite the ongoing violations of "thou shalt not kill"), but in letting the subjects speak (quietly, despairingly, angrily, resolutely) for themselves, the film gives us a much more powerful, and weirdly hopeful, picture of the humanity that exists even in these unlikely environs. It's a film you won't soon forget, and we hope you'll comment below and let us know what you thought of it.
