'Lo and Behold' review: Werner Herzog finds hope and doom for humanity in the internet

FILM REVIEW

'Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World'

4 stars (out of 4)

MPAA rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and some thematic elements

Director: Werner Herzog

Run time: 98 minutes

Werner Herzog is a remarkable filmmaker, but he's a philosopher first. His work wouldn't be nearly as effective without his probing worldview, driven by an unmatched and enviable curiosity.

"Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World" is his rumination on the internet and the profound effect it's having on numerous crucial aspects of humanity, and it's as intently watchable and idiosyncratic as any Herzog documentary. It's frequently warm and wondrous; just as frequently, it's chilly and troubling. It strikes his typically distinctive tone, blending disquiet, awe, horror and humor. If his work isn't an acute reflection of life itself, then nothing is.

In one of the film's more amiable moments, Herzog interviews Joydeep Biswas, a Carnegie Mellon scientist designing small, cube-shaped robots that play soccer autonomously and "learn" from various strategic scenarios. Biswas shows off Robot 8, the champion, almost as if it was his child leading the league in goals.

"Do you love it?" Herzog asks.

"Yes," Biswas says, smiling. "We do."

It's the kind of question only Herzog would swoop out of left field to ask. If a robot can function like a human, even if in the most primitive manner, is it any less deserving of love?

Herzog is a sort-of Luddite - he grew up in a remote area of the German Alps without a telephone or running water - and therefore possibly the perfect person to tackle such a rangy topic. (It ties neatly to his 2013 short "From One Second to the Next," a heartwrenching PSA about the dangers of texting and driving that has been viewed three million times on YouTube.) Originally contracted by cybersecurity company NetScout to make short films about the internet, Herzog's characteristically deep explorations resulted in a feature-length project.

He divvies the doc into ten topic-driven, logically sequenced chunks, including the origins of the internet, its "glory" and "dark side," its implications on artificial intelligence, identity theft, national security and the human body, mind and ego - and, of course, how it may do us all in as a species. Via Herzog's expert subjects, we learn that a vigorous solar flare once ignited the paper in a telegraph machine. Another eruption of its kind isn't a possibility, but an inevitability, and it would knock out our electrical grid, and therefore the internet, which controls so many core systems of our civilization.

Such a collapse would be "unimaginably ugly," says theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. "No gas, no water... no shopping," Herzog deadpans in voiceover. To illustrate the scenario, the filmmaker shows footage of New York City during a Hurricane Sandy blackout. Radio DJs sit in a pitch-black studio, a sign on the door reading "CONTROL ROOM," but subtextually screaming, "IRONY." Control? It's an illusion, Herzog subtly asserts. He doesn't care if we sleep well.

The filmmaker's fetish for nihilism is balanced with raw compassion when he speaks with recovering internet addicts who have lost themselves in virtual worlds, and grossly neglected their physical existences. In a remote, wooded area of West Virginia, he finds individuals forced into isolation due to intense allergic reactions to radiation from the radio waves, microwaves and other wireless signals that invisibly penetrate so much of the world. The intangible has manifest itself in the tangible, and technology, the internet, is the cause.

Herzog interviews a family traumatized by anonymous emailers, who sent them graphic pictures of their physically disfigured daughter/sister, images leaked after a fatal auto accident. "I have always believed the internet is a manifestation of the Antichrist," the mother says with great, sincere matter-of-factness. In these moments, Herzog's camera holds for a beat or two after the interviews end, to let the silence speak. The emotion of the moment swells and subsides like an ocean wave, and his subjects stand awkwardly, aware of the camera, aware of themselves. And, Herzog implies, keenly aware of the changing world around them.

I'm barely scraping the surface of the film's dense substance. "Lo and Behold" finds Herzog as driven by ideas as ever. They build upon each other, sometimes compounding exponentially. Many are illuminated by his interviewees, some of whom are characteristic Herzog eccentrics. All are deep thinkers, cynical thinkers, critical thinkers, logical thinkers. Thinkers, like Herzog. Many are universal ideas the filmmaker frequently addresses, yet never blatantly calculates for his work; "reveries" is synonymous with "dreams," which fascinate him, and are a recurring theme over his decades of film work. In exploring the effects of the internet, the film, via its maker's fascinated eye, elucidates a dream of a future of enormous possibility. It includes a drastic redefining of the human experience, an exploration of our potential - and our potential demise.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.