While an overseer sitting high above the clouds looks down and casts judgement, the townspeople in a preindustrial alpine village struggle to recreate a secret glass formula which the head glassmaker has just taken to his grave. Heart of Glass is one of Werner Herzog's stranger experiments: obtuse, without narrative, and reportedly shot with the entire cast under hypnosis, which affects the film with a hazy, somnolent quality. Still, it contains the essence of the iconoclastic director's great work such as its saturated cinematography and the unforgettable moments, notably the glass blowing sequences, the biblical narration over the nature segments, and a murderer dancing with his victim.
*** out of ****
