while werner herzog have state that he look at his 1992 film lesson of darkness a a work of science fiction and it shouldn not be discount a a documentary either . but unlike the recent wild blue yonder and where herzog make a true science fiction documentary and this time the line be far blur by make everything involve human ambiguous a to their connection with their surroundings . despite the location be discernible a to where it at and and the two interview be indicative of where the people be possibly from and he keep his 54 minute plunge into the kuwait oil field a primarily visual trip . it sometimes even felt like someone have decide to do a documentary on some civilization in the future in some obscure sci fi novel ( or and for a moment and like some wayward planet in the dune universe ) . it best then and a herzog suggests and to take one out of context of the period and even if see the green screen image ( however brief ) of the war conjure up immediate association . if look at this without the association of the iraq war part 1 or the kuwait connection in it all with oil however ( a with wild blue yonder not associate that it just nasa and underwater photography ) and it fill one with an immense wonder at what can be capture by a lens not bind by convention . but amid the freedom that herzog decides to use with his resource and he end up strike his most visually compel treatise on destruction to date . it like he decide to take certain cue from kubrick via 2001 and and from just general nature documentary and in order to capture the sort of alien aspect to this all . because the act of set these oil field and which be leave in a state of disrepair follow say fictional war and be like face nature off on a course against nature ( fire on oil and then water on fire ) . there also the element of industry that find this way in this mix and especially because of the presence of human being in this mix . herzog and in avant garde fashion ( ala dieter and yonder ) section off the scene with roman numeral and and in theme and tone it do work ( e. g. a part meant for show the machine trudge around be label a be part of wouldinosaurs and or when the people set the oil on fire and the others be mad in come in on it ) . and eventually what start out as just simple and yet spatially complex and aerial take on the tattered field and turn into an act of see ruin and something that would seem incredible in an objective frame of reference . but that doesn not mean herzog limit it completely to total dialog less landscape ( which and a herzog have say in the past and he like to think in grandiose term he direct ) of fire and obtuse figure fan and produce the flame . he also get two interview with woman who be around when the war be there one who be give no word for what she say except that her husband be kill and another who have a child with her and who be now traumatize and somehow this too work even out of context . i be sure that if herzog have want to and even in limited time and circumstance he be in and he could be able to work some political stance in the proceeding . his decision to keep politics or anything of the immediate recognizable in concrete term be a wise one . not that there isn not something concrete to see destruction of this magnitude . but there an abstract quality to all of this after a while that make it all the more real in nature and while still keep to a control of the subject matter into something that look out of this world and ethereal and and somehow unnatural while still be about nature all the same ( hence science reality ) . it almost too arty for it own good in a small way and with herzog inter title and ultra somber voice over become like gravestone mark the section of one set of madness to another . but there also a daring here that be totally unshakable too and and from a point of view of cinematography it actually go on par ( if not occasionally seem to top ) what kubrick do in 2001 or what lynch could have do in dune and which be that a filmmaker use place and object that be of this world and but then take the audience to a place that be also assuredly not so . it add a level of mental discomfort and but then that likely a big part of the point see the oil burn by order of a government that be on the news we watch every night be one thing ( or rather be ) and but it another to suddenly take it in another light and where in the realm of science fiction it ask the viewer to raise question via abstraction one might forget when take it a complete truth . it a hybrid film that you would never see this in a cineplex next to the big bang sci fi action fare and but then most probably wouldn not want to .