Screenplay:
Werner HerzogCinematography:
Yuriy BurakComposer:
Nicholas SingerCast:
Werner Herzog, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher (a.f.), Boris Yeltsin (a.f.), Ronald Reagan, Vladimir Putin (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Werner Herzog and André Singer’s riveting documentary, filled with unforgettable archive materials and based on three long interviews, provides incredible access to, arguably, the world’s greatest living politician. Now 87 and battling illness, the visionary Mikhail Gorbachev, the former General Secretary of the U.S.S.R, has mellowed and slowed down. Still, gently but resolutely, he is pushing towards his goals. Herzog, as on-screen interviewer, does not disguise his affection, celebrating Gorbachev’s three remarkable accomplishments: negotiations with the U.S. to reduce nuclear weapons; cessation of Soviet control of Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany; and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. All of this in six years! One German diplomat sums up Gorbachev’s approach: “The process went so quickly that… opponents were overcome by the reality of the situation.” Herzog and Singer remind us of the drastic and unforeseeable way the world changes. (Telluride Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Werner Herzog
German Empire
Best movies:
Home from Home - Chronicle of a Vision (2013)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Jack Reacher (2012)
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Soviet Union
Best movies:
Faraway, So Close! (1993)
Lech Walesa
Poland
Best movies:
Man of Iron (1981)
Walesa: Man of Hope (2013) - a.f.
Moonwalker (1988)
Margaret Thatcher (a.f.)
UK
Best movies:
Some Mother's Son (1996) - a.f.
Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) (TV movie) - a.f.
Hunger (2008) - a.f.
Boris Yeltsin (a.f.)
Soviet Union
Best movies:
Enya: The Video Collection (2001) (music video) - a.f.
The Balkan Line (2019) - a.f.
The Jackal (1997)
Ronald Reagan
USA
Best movies:
Storm Warning (1951)
'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Videos (1996) (video compilation)
Trumbo (2015) - a.f.
Vladimir Putin
Soviet Union
Best movies:
Snowden (2016) - a.f.
Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019) (TV movie) - a.f.
Angel Has Fallen (2019) - a.f.
Leonid Brezhnev (a.f.)
Russian Empire
Best movies:
JFK (1991)
Underground (1995)
Executive Action (1973)