The Dark Glow of the Mountains

*The Dark Glow of the Mountains*
The Dark Glow of the Mountains
	Messner at the summit of Gasherbrum II
Genre	Documentary
Written by	Werner Herzog
Directed by	Werner Herzog
Starring	Reinhold Messner; Hans Kammerlander; Werner Herzog;
Narrated by	Werner Herzog
Music by	Popol Vuh
Country of origin	West Germany
Original language	German
Production
Producers	Werner Herzog; Manfred Nägele;
Cinematography	Rainer Klausmann
Editor	Maximiliane Mainka
Running time	45 minutes
Production companies	Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR); Werner Herzog Filmproduktion;
Original release
Release	April 3, 1985

The Dark Glow of the Mountains (German: Gasherbrum – Der leuchtende Berg) is a TV documentary made in 1985 by German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It is about an expedition made by mountain climber Reinhold Messner and his partner Hans Kammerlander to climb Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I all in one trip without returning to base camp. The film is not so much concerned with showing the climb itself or giving guidelines on mountaineering, but seeks to reveal the inner motivation of the climbers.

Background[edit]

The film has been compared to other films by Herzog such as Fitzcarraldo and Cave of Forgotten Dreams,^[1] for its interest in mountains and the supernatural.

Production[edit]

The climb itself was filmed with an 8 mm camera so as to keep as close to the two protagonists as possible.^[2]

Reception[edit]

The film bearing Herzog's trademark of a very frontal approach of its subject^[1] has retrospectively received very positive reviews^[3] acquiring the status of a cult classic.^[1]^[4]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "The Dark Glow of the Mountains | Explore inner landscapes". Hypercritic. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
^ "Gasherbrum - The Dark Glow of the Mountains – Films". Visions du Réel. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
^ Andrew Grossman (19 December 2011). "The Dark Glow of the Mountains – Senses of Cinema". Retrieved 2023-03-31.
^ "The Dark Glow of the Mountains". Kino Art. Retrieved 2023-03-31.

External links[edit]

The Dark Glow of the Mountains at IMDb

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[:0-1] "The Dark Glow of the Mountains | Explore inner landscapes". Hypercritic. Retrieved 2023-03-31.

[2] "Gasherbrum - The Dark Glow of the Mountains – Films". Visions du Réel. Retrieved 2023-03-31.

[3] Andrew Grossman (19 December 2011). "The Dark Glow of the Mountains – Senses of Cinema". Retrieved 2023-03-31.

[4] "The Dark Glow of the Mountains". Kino Art. Retrieved 2023-03-31.

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v t e Werner Herzog
Filmography Bibliography
Feature films	Signs of Life (1968) Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) Fata Morgana (1971) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) Heart of Glass (1976) Stroszek (1977) Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) Woyzeck (1979) Fitzcarraldo (1982) Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) Cobra Verde (1987) Scream of Stone (1991) Lessons of Darkness (1992) Invincible (2001) The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) Rescue Dawn (2006) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) Queen of the Desert (2015) Salt and Fire (2016) Family Romance, LLC (2019)
Documentaries	The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969) Handicapped Future (1971) Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974) How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976) La Soufrière (1977) Huie's Sermon (1981) God's Angry Man (1981) Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1985) Herdsmen of the Sun (1989) Echoes from a Sombre Empire (1990) Jag Mandir (1991) Bells from the Deep (1993) The Transformation of the World into Music (1994) Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices (1995) Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) My Best Fiend (1999) Wings of Hope (2000) Pilgrimage (2001) Ten Thousand Years Older (2002) Wheel of Time (2003) The White Diamond (2004) Grizzly Man (2005) Encounters at the End of the World (2007) Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) Into the Abyss (2011) On Death Row (2012) Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016) Into the Inferno (2016) Meeting Gorbachev (2018) Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (2019) Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020) The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022)
Shorts	Herakles (1962) Game in the Sand (1964) The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967) Last Words (1968) Precautions Against Fanatics (1969) No One Will Play with Me (1976) Portrait Werner Herzog (1986) Les Gaulois (1988) La bohème (2009)
Other	Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
Books	Of Walking in Ice (1978) The Twilight World (2021) Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir (2022)
Related	Lena Herzog (wife) Lucki Stipetić (brother) Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980) Burden of Dreams (1982) Location Africa (1987) Plastic Bag (2009)
Category