On theAbsolute, theSublime, andEcstatic Truth WERNER HERZOG (TranslatedbyMoira Weigel) [Thistextwas originally delivered byWerner Herzogas a speechin Milano, Italy,following a screening ofhisfilm"Lessons ofDarkness " on thefiresin Kuwait. He was asked to speak about the Absolute,buthespontaneously changedthesubjectto theSublime. Because ofthat,a good partofwhatfollowswas improvised inthe moment.] # The collapse of thestellaruniversewill occur - like creation - in grandiosesplendor. - BlaisePascal T Xhe words attributed to Blaise Pascal which prefacemyfilmLessons ofDarknessare in factbyme. Pascal himself could nothave said itbetter. Thisfalsified and yet,as I willlaterdemonstrate, notfalsifiedquotationshouldserveas a first hintofwhatI am tryingto deal withinthisdiscourse.Anyway, to acknowledgea fakeas fakecontributes onlyto thetriumph ofaccountants. Whyam I doingthis,youmight ask? The reasonis simple and comes not fromtheoretical, but ratherfrompractical, considerations. Withthisquotationas a prefixI elevate[erheben ]thespectator, beforehe has evenseenthefirst frame, to a highlevel,fromwhichto enterthefilm.And I, theauthorofthefilm , do notlethimdescendfromthisheightuntil it is over.Only in thisstateof sublimity [Erhabenheit] does something deeperbecomepossible,a kindoftruth that is theenemyofthemerely factual.Ecstatictruth, I call it. ARION I7.3 WINTER 2OIO 2 ON THE ABSOLUTE, THE SUBLIME, AND ECSTATIC TRUTH Afterthe firstwar in Iraq, as the oil fieldsburned in Kuwait,themedia - and hereI mean televisionin particular - was in no positionto show whatwas, beyondbeinga war crime,an eventof cosmicdimensions, a crimeagainst creationitself.There is not a singleframein Lessons of Darkness in whichyou can recognizeour planet; forthis reasonthefilm is labeled"sciencefiction," as ifitcould only have beenshotin a distantgalaxy,hostileto life.At itspremiereat theBerlinFilmFestival,thefilmmetwithan orgy ofhate.FromtheragingcriesofthepublicI could makeout only"aestheticization ofhorror."And whenI foundmyself beingthreatened and spatat on thepodium,I hitupon only a single,banal response."You cretins,"I said, "that'swhat Dante did in his Inferno, it'swhat Goya did, and Hieronymus Bosch too." In mymomentof need,withoutthinking about it,I had called upon theguardianangelswho familiarizeus withtheAbsoluteand theSublime. The Absolute,theSublime,theTruth. . . What do these wordsmean?Thisis,I mustconfess, thefirst timein mylife thatI havesought tosettle suchquestions outsideofmywork, whichI understand, first and foremost, inpractical terms. Bywayofqualification, I shouldadd at oncethatI am not goingto venturea definition of the Absolute,even ifthat conceptcastsitsshadowovereverything thatI sayhere.The Absoluteposes a never-ending quandaryforphilosophy, religion ,and mathematics. Mathematicswill probablycome closestto getting itwhensomeonefinally provesRiemann's hypothesis. That questionconcernsthedistribution ofprime numbers; unanswered sincethenineteenth century, itreaches intothedepthsof mathematical thinking. A prizeof a million dollarshas been set aside forwhoeversolvesit,and a mathematicalinstitute in Boston has allotteda thousand yearsforsomeoneto come up witha proof.The moneyis waitingforyou,as is yourimmortality. For two and a half thousandyears,eversinceEuclid,thisquestionhas preoccupied mathematicians; ifitturnedout Riemannand his brillianthypothesis werenotright, itwould sendunimaginable Werner Herzog 3 Shockwavesthrough thedisciplines ofmathematics and naturalscience .I can onlyveryvaguelybeginto fathom theAbsolute ;I am in no positionto definetheconcept. THE TRUTH OF THE OCEAN for now, I'll stayon thetrusted groundofpraxis.Evenifwe cannotreallygraspit,I would liketo tellyou about an unforgettable encounter I had withTruthwhileshootingFitzcarraldo .We were shootingin thePeruvianjungleseast of theAndesbetweentheCamisea and Urubambarivers, where I wouldlaterhaula hugesteamship overa mountain. The indigenouspeoplewho livedthere, theMachiguengas, madeup a majority oftheextrasand had givenus thepermit to film on theirland. In additionto beingpaid, theMachiguengas wantedfurther benefits: theywantedtraining fortheirlocal doctorand a boat, so thattheycould bringtheircrops to marketa fewhundredkilometers downriver themselves, insteadofhavingto sellthemthrough middlemen. Finally, they wantedsupportin theirfight fora legaltitleto thearea betweenthetwo rivers. One companyafter anotherhad seized itinorderto plunderlocal stocksofwood; recently, oil firms had also beencastinga greedy eyeon theirland. Everypetitionwe enteredfora deed vanishedat once in the labyrinthine provincialbureaucracy.Our attemptsat bribery failed,too. Finally,havingtraveledto the ministry responsible forsuchthings, inthecapitalcityofLima,I was toldthat,evenifwe could arguefora legaltitleon historical and culturalgrounds,therewere two stumblingblocks. First,the titlewas not containedin any legallyverifiable document, butsupportedonlybyhearsay, whichwas irrelevant .Second,no one had eversurveyed theland in orderto providea recognizableborder. To the latterend, I hireda surveyor, who furnished the Machiguengaswitha precisemap of theirhomeland.That was mypartintheirtruth: ittooktheformofa delineation, a definition. I'll admit,I quarreledwiththe surveyor. The 4 ON THE ABSOLUTE,THE SUBLIME,AND ECSTATICTRUTH topographic mapthat hefurnished was,heexplained, incertainwaysincorrect . It didnotcorrespond to thetruth becauseitdidnottakeintoaccount thecurvature oftheearth. In sucha little pieceofland?I asked,losingpatience. Of course, he saidangrily, andpushedhiswaterglasstoward me.Evenwith a glassofwater, youhavetobeclear aboutit, whatwe'redealing with is notan evensurface. Youshould see thecurvature oftheearthas youwouldsee it on an oceanora lake.Ifyouwerereally abletoperceive itexactly as itis - butyouaretoosimple-minded - youwouldseethe earth curve. I willnever forget thisharsh lesson. Thequestion ofhearsay hada deeper dimension andrequiredresearch ofan entirely different kind.[Arguing for their titleto theland]theIndianscouldonlyclaimthat they'd alwaysbeenthere; thisthey had learned from their grandparents. When,finally...