Title: Into the Abyss Director: Werner Herzog Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Studio: Creative Differences Productions Genre(s): Documentary Rated:       (For mature thematic material and some disturbing images)

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents, there is a lot of mature and disturbing discussions in this film, though little to nothing is seen. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

“Into the Abyss” is harrowing, haunting film about a topic that affects us every day. That topic is death, and it's coming for all of us. Some of us choose to think about it more than others. For director Werner Herzog, I think the topic is on his mind a lot more than others. He nearly died at least five times while filming the movie “Fitzcarraldo.” And keep in mind that was just ONE movie! No wonder when people ask him how he's doing he usually replies “I'm alive.” Now he points his camera to two people: Michael Perry and Jason Berkett. Both were involved in a triple homicide murder when they saw a red Camaro that they wanted to steal. For that car, they killed three people.

Perry is on death row. He claims innocence in the crime, talks about his faith, and what it's like to be on death row. Never mind that the evidence against him is damning, he is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in a few weeks. The way he sees it: “I'm either going home or I'm going home.” Burkett seems to have been luckier, as he only got a life sentence. He won't be available for parole until 2041, but at least he has a wife on the outside waiting for him. She married him while he was in prison and neither have been able to do more than touch each other's hand, but she's pregnant with his child (the details of how that came about are left undisclosed).

So one will die young and one will live forever to regret the choices he made. It's difficult to think of which one has the worse fate. Herzog is a wonderful documentary film maker. Unlike most documentaries, Herzog does little editing and almost no talking. He watches and listens. People share personal, intimate stories that can only be gained from simple questions. Once in a while he'll say something to keep the conversation moving, but he knows better than to speak for his subjects. Listening to the killers speak is scary because they not only have little remorse for what they did, but they sound like normal people.

The more they talk, the more we realize they had little chance of having a great life. Herzog talks to Berkett's father (who is in the jail across the street), who blames himself for what happened. Always on drugs, never home, he actually went to jail on the same prison bus as his son. If that doesn't make a man feel like a total failure, I don't know what will. The most heartbreaking stories come from the victims' families though. These are the people who feel like they have lost everything on account on what these boys did. Their stories are heartbreaking and tragic. “Into the Abyss” personally struck me as difficult to watch in a way no other movie this year has.

Speaking from personal experience, my family lost someone we were very close to this year in a way that is so absurd it's hard to put into words. What happened to our family member was not personal, but the hole the experience has left in our hearts is big. When these people recount stories that are pointless to the world but personal to them, I can relate to what they're saying. Some people will watch this movie and assume Herzog has made a movie against capital punishment. He has not (though he admits to being against it). He has made a movie where all life is valued, and that death is something we should fear. “Into the Abyss” is a story of life and a story about death. All he asks us is which one we value more.