Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)

To make visible the invisible has always been a key challenge to film. This paper will study how German director Werner Herzog, a regular explorer of the material / spiritual dichotomy, has managed to visualize something as invisible as faith in his documentaries Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time...

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Main Author: Poch Chantal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2019-02-01
Series:Open Cultural Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0004
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author Poch Chantal
author_facet Poch Chantal
author_sort Poch Chantal
collection DOAJ
description To make visible the invisible has always been a key challenge to film. This paper will study how German director Werner Herzog, a regular explorer of the material / spiritual dichotomy, has managed to visualize something as invisible as faith in his documentaries Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003). By identifying a strong narrative and aesthetic focus on gesture, we will work on a possible reading on physical devotion as a contemporary substitute to sacrifice. Gesture, then, will become not only the visible translation of what we will argue is represented as a natural and universal faith, but also the apparatus enabling the feeling of the sacred.
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spelling doaj.art-ae1c352bf7db4c73b5a9a3510863fd6b2022-12-21T21:33:51ZengDe GruyterOpen Cultural Studies2451-34742019-02-0131394610.1515/culture-2019-0004culture-2019-0004Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)Poch Chantal0PhD candidate at Pompeu Fabra University,Barcelona, SpainTo make visible the invisible has always been a key challenge to film. This paper will study how German director Werner Herzog, a regular explorer of the material / spiritual dichotomy, has managed to visualize something as invisible as faith in his documentaries Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003). By identifying a strong narrative and aesthetic focus on gesture, we will work on a possible reading on physical devotion as a contemporary substitute to sacrifice. Gesture, then, will become not only the visible translation of what we will argue is represented as a natural and universal faith, but also the apparatus enabling the feeling of the sacred.https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0004werner herzogsacrificegesturefilm studiesdocumentary
spellingShingle Poch Chantal
Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
Open Cultural Studies
werner herzog
sacrifice
gesture
film studies
documentary
title Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
title_full Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
title_fullStr Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
title_full_unstemmed Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
title_short Documenting Faith: Physical Devotion in Werner Herzog’s Pilgrimage (2001) and Wheel of Time (2003)
title_sort documenting faith physical devotion in werner herzog s pilgrimage 2001 and wheel of time 2003
topic werner herzog
sacrifice
gesture
film studies
documentary
url https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0004
work_keys_str_mv AT pochchantal documentingfaithphysicaldevotioninwernerherzogspilgrimage2001andwheeloftime2003