Les cloches des profondeurs

Bells from the Deep (1995)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary that takes a look at religious beliefs and superstitions in Siberia and Russia. When you do a documentary on religion often times you find a director who wants to throw out their opinions or thoughts on the religion in question but thankfully Herzog doesn't do that here. I'm sure some might find what we see here to be old fashioned or rather strange but Herzog treats the people and their religion with respect and just observes them without throwing in his personal thoughts. The camera beautifully moves from one subject to the next, quietly listening in to what's going on. There are many strange sequences and segments including an exorcism but Herzog just stays quiet on the matter. Herzog does the narration with that great voice of his and really tries to capture the soul and feeling of those people he's interviewing. As with many Herzog documentaries, this one here doesn't contain too much interview footage or narration but instead Herzog just shines the camera on these people and lets the viewer take away their own feelings.