Werner Herzog once again turns his eye on the beautiful and dangerous wilds of the Amazon in this documentary. Dr. Graham Dorrington is a scientist who specializes in designing experimental aircraft, and in 1992 he invented a unique man-powered airship intended to travel into the Amazon canopy of Guyana, with the goal studying the medicinal herbs said to grow there. However, Dorrington's aircraft proved to be flawed, and an accident on its first voyage into the Amazon claimed the life of Dieter
Plage, a filmmaker and close friend of Dorrington who had tagged along to document the journey. Ten years later, Herzog joined Dorrington as he returned to the Amazon canopy and explored the beautiful but forbidding rivers and forests, visited the people who live there, and recalled the accident that claimed his friend's life. The White Diamond was the opening night attraction at the 2004 Taiwan Documentary Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
When we finally see the ship sailing through majestic cloud formations over the breathtaking Amazon canopy, the name seems absolutely fitting -- for a gem of an aircraft and a jewel of a movie.
Magnificent shots of waterfalls and other natural phenomena abound, but it's far too late in the history of nature photography to expect anyone to gawk at them.
The film is one small story and how it can be presented and interpreted to mean so much, giving significance to a more introspective definition of triumph.
Herzog loves to document humanity's perpetual struggle with nature, and in The White Diamond, the jungle -- sometimes makes sophisticated human technology laughably clumsy.
I love Werner Herzog and I really love his documentaries. The White Diamond has been on my list of films to watch for a while now but it's not what I expected. It's very good and typical of Herzog's greatness for the most part but cracks do appear. His usual method of continuing to film the people after they have said
what they wanted to say feels really awkward here. He puts words into peoples mouths, Marc Anthony Yhap was already an interesting character, putting the camera in his face only smothered him. There is still some Herzog greatness here though, no one else makes films like this and no one else could. Anyone else spot where he got the iguana idea for Bad Lieutenant?
Whew, this documentary is dull. A pleasant 30-minute short is buried in here somewhere, minus the tangents into diamond mines, lingering wildlife shots, hip-hop dancing and whatever else happens to catch director Werner Herzog's eye. But when the most gripping scene is someone else's footage of a past gorilla safari,
you know the film is in trouble.The featured experimental balloon (described as a "white diamond" by one of the locals) isn't radical enough to generate much intrigue, and between the rain-forest setting, man-against-nature theme, droning tribal music and gravelly narration, "The White Diamond" plays almost like a Werner Herzog greatest-hits album. The final shot of thousands of swifts returning to their home behind a waterfall is exquisite, though.
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