Fata Morgana (1972 film)

Fata Morgana
Screenshot from the sequence "Scientist with Monitor Lizard"
Directed by	Werner Herzog
Produced by	Werner Herzog
Written by	Werner Herzog
Narrated by	Lotte H. Eisner Wolfgang Büchler Manfred Eigendorf
Music by	Blind Faith Third Ear Band Leonard Cohen
Cinematography	Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Edited by	Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Production company	Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
Release date	19 April 1971
Running time	79 min
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Fata Morgana is a 1971 film by Werner Herzog, shot in 1968 and 1969, which captures mirages in the Sahara and Sahel deserts. Herzog also wrote the voiceover narration by Lotte H. Eisner, which recites the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh.

The film was shot sporadically over a 13 month period from November 1968 to December 1969. Most of the footage was shot in Africa with little notion as to how it would eventually be used. A concept and structure for the film was invented by Herzog only after filming was completed. Post production extended into 1970 as the director concentrated on completing his Even Dwarfs Started Small for its May premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Much of the film's footage consists of long tracking shots filmed by cameraman Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein from the top of a Volkswagen camper van with Herzog driving. The crew smoothed out the road themselves to prepare the shots.

Herzog and the crew encountered many problems during the filming, most notably in Cameroon being imprisoned because cameraman Schmidt-Reitwein's name was similar to the name of a German mercenary who was hiding from the authorities and had recently been sentenced to death in absentia. The director and his small crew also encountered sandstorms and floods. Filming eventually came to a halt when they were forced to abandon their truck and all equipment at a border crossing. Herzog said of the arduous filming conditions "It forces real life, genuine life into the film". During the course of filming, Herzog himself was thrown into a rat-infested jail where he was beaten, and contracted the parasitic blood disease bilharzia.

The film was initially intended to be presented with a science fiction narrative, casting the images as landscapes of a dying planet. This concept was abandoned as soon as filming began, but was realized in Herzog's later films Lessons of Darkness and The Wild Blue Yonder. Herzog has said of the film that it takes place "on the planet Uxmal, which is discovered by creatures from the Andromeda nebula, who make a film report about it." The images and narration are combined with an eclectic soundtrack which features works by Handel, Mozart and Couperin, as well as Blind Faith, Leonard Cohen and the British Third Ear Band.