Into the Abyss 2011 M
When
8.00 pm, Fri 28 Jul 2017 (107 mins)Where
Gallery of Modern Art & Cinema A
About
We're looking inside the deepest recesses of the human soul… Wherever you look there's yet another abyss. It's kind of mind-boggling.
With 'Into the Abyss', my interest spread to the chaplain, the former captain of the tie-down team, whose job it was to strap down the inmates for execution, and the victims' families. I quickly realised an entire tapestry could be woven around these senseless murders.
Into the Abyss is a chilling, deeply humanistic documentary built around Michael Perry: a man sitting on Death Row in a prison in Huntsville, Texas with less than two weeks to live after being found guilty of the murder of three people. Eschewing the traditional 'true crime' exploration of guilt and innocence, Herzog instead focuses intently on the lives of the people involved in the case: Perry himself, his accomplice Jason Burkett, their families, the victims, and the judicial officers involved. Despite his avowed repudiation of capital punishment, Herzog is not interested in didactic polemics on the subject – simply the murky world of the people pulled into this crime. His questions gently, yet forcefully, probe the recesses of their consciences and evince startling revelations that explore the cruel paradoxes of human behaviour.
Production Credits
- Director /Script: Werner Herzog
- Cinematographer: Peter Zeitlinger
- Editor: Joe Bini
- Production Company: Skellig Rock
- Print Source / Rights: Werner Herzog Film Gmbh
- Screening Format: DCP m, HDCAM
- Year: 2011
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Countries: USA, UK, Germany
- Language: English
- Sound: Dolby Digital
- Colour: Colour