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(silence)
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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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(music plays)
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"In my grandmother's dining room
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there was a glass-fronted cabinet
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and in the cabinet, a piece of skin.
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It was a small piece only,
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but thick and leathery
with strands of coarse, reddish hair.
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It was stuck to a card with a rusty pin.
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On the card was some writing
in faded black ink,
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but I was too young then to read.
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'What's that?'
'A piece of brontosaurus.'
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My mother knew the names
of two prehistoric animals,
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the brontosaurus and the mammoth.
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She knew it was not a mammoth,
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mammoths came from Siberia.
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The brontosaurus, I learned,
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was an animal that had drowned
in the flood,
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being too big for Noah
to ship aboard the ark.
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I pictured a shaggy, lumbering creature
with claws and fangs
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and a malicious green light in its eyes,
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sometimes the brontosaurus
would crash through the bedroom wall
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and wake me from my sleep.
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This particular brontosaurus
had lived in Patagonia,
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a country in South America
at the far end of the world.
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Thousands of years before
it'd fallen into a glacier,
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travelled down a mountain
in a prison of blue ice
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and arrived in perfect condition
at the bottom.
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Here my grandmother's cousin,
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Charlie Milward, the sailor, found it."
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Herzog: In the footsteps
of Bruce Chatwin,
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we ended up at this shipwreck
in Punta Arenas
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at the southern tip of South America.
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This very wreck Chatwin
had photographed
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more than four decades ago
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and published it in his first book,
In Patagonia.
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A few times in his life and in my life,
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our paths had intersected
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and there were points,
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landscapes that we
had explored independently,
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unbeknownst to each other,
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sometimes with many years in between.
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This ship,
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that never reached its destination
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was one of these points.
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Chatwin: Charlie Milward
was captain of a merchant ship
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that sank at the entrance
to the Strait of Magellan.
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He survived the wreck
and settled nearby at Punta Arenas
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where he ran a ship repairing yard.
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The Charlie Milward of my imagination
was a god among men,
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tall, silent and strong
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with black mutton chop whiskers
and fierce blue eyes.
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The brontosaurus went rotten
on its voyage through the tropics
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and arrived in London a putrefied mess,
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which was why you saw brontosaurus
bones in the museum but no skin.
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Fortunately, cousin Charlie
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had posted a scrap to my grandmother.
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Herzog: Chatwin was a writer
like no other.
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He would craft mythical tales
into voyages of the mind.
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In this respect,
we found out we were kindred spirits,
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he as a writer, I as a filmmaker.
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In this film here,
I will follow a similar erratic quest
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for wild characters, strange dreamers
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and big ideas about
the nature of human existence.
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These were the themes
Chatwin was obsessed with.
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We never had the intention
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to make a biographical film
on Bruce Chatwin.
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In Patagonia brims over
with dozens of wild stories,
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and we followed a few of them.
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(music plays)
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Herzog: Since a piece of skin
was so important for Chatwin,
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we travelled with our camera
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to the very cave
where it was discovered in 1895.
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Chatwin came here as a pilgrim.
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His book has made the cave famous.
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Today busloads of tourists
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seek out the extinct denizen of the crag.
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(crowd speaks indistinctly)
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(music plays)
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We were lucky to meet Karin Eberhard,
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the great granddaughter
of Hermann Eberhard,
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who had found the remains
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of the mysterious prehistoric creature.
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As children, this was our playground.
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We rode in here on horseback.
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At that time, it was still wild country,
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no controls, no official park.
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We went with our horses
behind those piles of rock here,
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cantering around,
which created a hollow rumble.
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And the tourists at the entrance bolted.
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They were afraid
some of the vault was collapsing,
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until we were caught.
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And they threatened
to take the horses away from us.
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That would have been
the ultimate punishment for us.
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Herzog: And Hermann Eberhard?
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And Hermann Eberhard?
He came here with his cousin.
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According to one story,
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the three of them walked through here
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and in the sand, something caught his eye.
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He bent down and pulled it out.
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It was a piece of fur.
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And this piece of fur
was covered with long bristly hair.
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And there were little knots of bone on it.
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And they had no idea
from which creature it came.
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They took it with them,
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and thought it could come
from an animal already extinct.
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And, as this is very dry ground,
it was well-preserved.
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They took it home to the farm,
and hung it on a tree.
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And it hung there for quite a while.
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And whoever came,
carved off a piece of it.
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"'Please can I have the piece
of brontosaurus?'
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Never in my life have I wanted anything
as I wanted that piece of skin.
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My grandmother said
I should have it one day, perhaps.
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And when she died, I said,
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'Now I can have
the piece of brontosaurus.'
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But my mother said, 'Ha, that thing.
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I'm afraid we threw that away.'
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It took some years to sort the story out.
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Charlie Milward's animal
was not a brontosaurus
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but the Mylodon or giant sloth.
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He never found a whole specimen
or even a whole skeleton
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but some skin and bones
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preserved by the cold, dryness, and salt
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in a cave on Last Hope Sound
in Chilean Patagonia."
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Herzog: Like Bruce Chatwin,
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we went to the cemetery in Punta Arenas
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in search of the grave
of Charlie Milward, the sailor.
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Later in his life,
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Charles Milward became
British consul in Punta Arenas.
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He built this phenomenally ugly house
for himself.
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(music plays)
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Chatwin made a pilgrimage
to the museum in La Plata in Argentina,
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some 3,000 kilometers further
to the north.
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Here, the big remaining piece
of the mylodon's skin
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that Hermann Eberhard had kept
hanging on his tree is on display.
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Scientists established
that this specimen had died
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around 10,000 years ago.
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Around that time, the giant sloth
became extinct altogether.
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Amazingly, some of its feces,
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the size of footballs,
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were preserved almost fresh.
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Chatwin himself had found
some small pieces of excrement
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in the few strands of hair
of the creature back in the cave.
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This is how the animal looked.
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It stood almost 10 feet tall.
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Bruce Chatwin had a deep fascination
for prehistory.
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Obviously, for dinosaurs,
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but more so for early branches
of human evolution,
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which came some 60 million years later.
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He visited one of
the most famous paleontologists,
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Richard Leakey,
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who, in Kenya, had excavated
the skull of a hominid
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dating one and a half million years
back in time.
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And by sheer coincidence,
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Chatwin was present in South Africa
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at the very moment
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when the earliest evidence
of human use of fire,
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about a million years ago,
was discovered.
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Chatwin loved this museum.
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He fell in love with this particular
extinct species of armadillos.
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And to me, he once made a cryptic remark
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about a flying octopus
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that I did not understand until I saw it.
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The little cabinet of curiosities
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of Bruce's childhood home
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does not exist any longer.
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And so you could see, when you looked
at these objects in the cabinet,
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each one of them would have been
a story for Bruce,
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a kind of...
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an emblem of a place
he might want to visit.
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And so you had a compass point
with all the compasses
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of the places he then did visit,
a Victorian compass.
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You had the fish,
the arrow hooks from Patagonia,
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from his cousin Charlie Milward.
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You had this object,
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which is the only object left
in his collection in the Bodleian.
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It's the one object
that is here with the notebooks.
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And it has...
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an inscription on the bottom which...
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- is possibly a motto for Bruce-
- Just one second here.
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It has an inscription on the bottom.
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"I am starting for a long journey."
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This slightly pot-bellied
Victorian traveler.
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And that could be Bruce's motto.
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He-- His life, in a sense,
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is a search for the...
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the countries from which
these objects originated.
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Including the piece of skin?
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(cross talking)
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And so in a-- in a parody
of Jason and the fleece,
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Bruce set off for his first book,
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to try and find the origin of this fur,
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for the kind of,
the Golden Fleece, if you like.
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It's a kind of a comic version
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on which this would be the clothesline
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on which he would hang all his stories
of how he got there.
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And, so this Victorian cabinet,
full of these objects,
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and if you want to see Bruce's journey
first of all mapped out--
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It's mapped out in childhood
when he's looking up
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to see the sloth skin and the compass
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and the fish hooks from Patagonia.
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So each of-- each of these objects
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had a drama which attracted Bruce,
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and which made him want to go
to the source of it.
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- I think one of the things--
- Ended up in-- in great books.
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And it ended up in great books.
I mean, one of the things,
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as I was working through
in the Bodleian Library,
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the notebooks...
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He used to do cloud formations,
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these are plants, telephone numbers,
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00:14:03,009 --> 00:14:04,302
scraps of conversation.
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00:14:04,469 --> 00:14:06,721
There's a mountain scene.
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00:14:08,056 --> 00:14:10,851
This is him going to Captain Eberhard
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at the cave where the Mylodon,
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the giant sloth skin he finds.
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This is the end of In Patagonia.
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00:14:20,068 --> 00:14:23,446
Of course, in a way...
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describing certain things
he encountered, facts,
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in the pedantic part of the reviewers
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who blamed him for making things up,
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they were-- they were wrong.
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In my opinion, they were wrong
because Bruce--
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Sure, he would take facts,
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but he would modify them.
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But he would modify them in such a way
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that they would resemble
more truth than reality.
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Bruce didn't tell a half-truth,
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he told a truth-and-a-half.
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He-- he embellished what was there
to make it even truer.
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(music plays)
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(harmonizing)
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Herzog: There was also an attraction
from early on in Chatwin's life
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for mysterious landscapes,
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landscapes of his soul.
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This stone, for some radiating
paranormal energies,
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forms part of a vast Neolithic complex
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00:15:38,980 --> 00:15:41,191
at Avebury in Wiltshire.
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00:15:42,025 --> 00:15:44,903
From his nearby boarding school
in Marlborough,
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a young Bruce would ride his bike here
all the time.
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(harmonizing continues)
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Part of this complex is Silbury Hill,
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the largest Neolithic structure
in the world.
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This is where he was somehow centered.
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This was his pivot.
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His mythical place of origin.
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Everything is an echo of this.
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(music plays)
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(music plays)
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(music plays)
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So, it's crossing because,
252
00:19:09,023 --> 00:19:11,568
I think-- I think the force
is going that way.
253
00:19:13,111 --> 00:19:14,612
Herzog: Can-- can you
show us again here?
254
00:19:14,779 --> 00:19:17,532
Do you feel the force?
Is it like electric or--
255
00:19:17,699 --> 00:19:19,617
No, it just-- just crosses.
256
00:19:19,784 --> 00:19:21,411
So, if I went this way now,
257
00:19:21,578 --> 00:19:23,955
in theory it will cross again.
258
00:19:30,170 --> 00:19:31,087
See?
259
00:19:31,254 --> 00:19:33,256
Herzog: Show us again how it crosses.
260
00:19:33,423 --> 00:19:37,010
It just-- (laughs) It's just that easy.
It just settles down. It just...
261
00:19:39,345 --> 00:19:41,347
- And you can see 'em wavering
- Yeah.
262
00:19:41,514 --> 00:19:43,016
So, there I'm fine.
263
00:19:43,183 --> 00:19:45,560
See, nothing's happening.
but as soon as I start to walk...
264
00:19:46,644 --> 00:19:48,146
they cross.
265
00:19:50,648 --> 00:19:52,984
And now it's trying to go the other way,
266
00:19:53,151 --> 00:19:56,571
because it knows the--
I think the force is going that way.
267
00:19:57,780 --> 00:19:59,699
And what forces are they?
268
00:20:00,325 --> 00:20:03,786
They're just possibly magnetic forces
that run round the world.
269
00:20:04,704 --> 00:20:08,416
It's... There's lots of them,
and Wiltshire is quite prevalent.
270
00:20:08,583 --> 00:20:11,294
They've got quite a lot of lay lines
running through Wiltshire.
271
00:20:11,461 --> 00:20:12,962
Possibly why they settled here.
272
00:20:13,129 --> 00:20:16,216
Perhaps our ancestors could feel it,
273
00:20:16,382 --> 00:20:18,259
and that's why they
moved here, who knows?
274
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:20,720
(harmonizing)
275
00:21:07,350 --> 00:21:10,353
Elizabeth: I can sort of
visualize him completely here.
276
00:21:11,771 --> 00:21:14,774
You know, and the way
he used to come here.
277
00:21:14,941 --> 00:21:17,360
I can see him walking around.
278
00:21:17,527 --> 00:21:18,778
(cuckoo clock sings)
279
00:21:18,945 --> 00:21:21,489
Oh, cuckoo.
280
00:21:24,158 --> 00:21:28,037
Herzog: This is Elizabeth Chatwin,
Bruce's widow.
281
00:21:28,204 --> 00:21:31,374
She took us to Llanthony Priory in Wales,
282
00:21:31,541 --> 00:21:34,502
a hideaway during their early courtship.
283
00:21:36,546 --> 00:21:38,423
The landscape around here
284
00:21:38,589 --> 00:21:42,051
became one of the essential locations
285
00:21:42,218 --> 00:21:45,305
where he would find his inner balance.
286
00:21:46,764 --> 00:21:48,933
Elizabeth: Bruce was a nomad,
287
00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:52,895
but he was always drawn back
to this place,
288
00:21:53,062 --> 00:21:55,606
the Black Hills in Wales.
289
00:21:56,649 --> 00:21:58,609
This is a dreaming place.
290
00:21:58,776 --> 00:22:00,486
I mean, these hills...
291
00:22:00,653 --> 00:22:02,030
Herzog: His inner landscape?
292
00:22:02,196 --> 00:22:03,906
His inner landscape, yeah.
293
00:22:04,073 --> 00:22:06,034
Landscape of his soul?
294
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:07,493
I think so.
295
00:22:07,660 --> 00:22:10,121
Landscape of his soul, yes.
296
00:22:12,707 --> 00:22:16,044
Herzog: But apart from
the idyllic landscapes
297
00:22:16,210 --> 00:22:19,339
that gave a feeling of home, of belonging,
298
00:22:19,505 --> 00:22:23,092
Bruce Chatwin was searching
for a strangeness.
299
00:22:24,510 --> 00:22:28,097
He always liked my first feature film
for this.
300
00:22:28,806 --> 00:22:31,225
In it, a protagonist,
301
00:22:31,392 --> 00:22:36,105
a German World War II soldier
on a reconnaissance mission
302
00:22:36,272 --> 00:22:38,358
suddenly becomes insane
303
00:22:38,524 --> 00:22:43,029
when he stumbles across
this valley of 10,000 windmills.
304
00:22:44,781 --> 00:22:47,116
Bruce, in our conversations,
305
00:22:47,283 --> 00:22:49,452
mentioned this scene often.
306
00:22:49,619 --> 00:22:53,623
He coined the term
"deranged landscape" for it.
307
00:22:53,790 --> 00:22:57,085
(music plays)
308
00:23:53,850 --> 00:23:57,311
The quest for strangeness was recognized
309
00:23:57,478 --> 00:23:59,439
by others who knew Chatwin.
310
00:24:00,857 --> 00:24:04,610
In Australia, Petronella Vaarzon-Morel,
311
00:24:04,777 --> 00:24:06,279
whom he adored,
312
00:24:06,446 --> 00:24:09,782
wrote in a letter to him
a quote from the poet Rilke
313
00:24:09,949 --> 00:24:11,993
that sums it up.
314
00:24:13,953 --> 00:24:15,371
My letter ended,
315
00:24:15,538 --> 00:24:18,833
"I'm reminded of the words of
Rainer Maria Rilke:
316
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,378
'That at bottom the only courage
that is demanded of us,
317
00:24:22,545 --> 00:24:25,214
to have courage for the most strange,
318
00:24:25,381 --> 00:24:28,384
the most singular
and the most inexplicable
319
00:24:28,551 --> 00:24:30,303
that we may encounter.
320
00:24:30,470 --> 00:24:32,221
I'm glad to have met you."
321
00:24:35,099 --> 00:24:38,352
Herzog:
It was you who wrote that to him.
322
00:24:38,519 --> 00:24:40,855
- Yes.
- To him, yes.
323
00:24:43,357 --> 00:24:46,235
(music plays)
324
00:25:30,905 --> 00:25:34,534
Herzog: As Bruce was after
the brontosaurus skin,
325
00:25:34,700 --> 00:25:37,745
this was the skin of my fascination.
326
00:25:39,163 --> 00:25:43,292
My quest was rather for weird creatures
327
00:25:43,459 --> 00:25:46,170
of pure science fiction that looked
328
00:25:46,337 --> 00:25:49,507
as if they had landed in what today
329
00:25:49,674 --> 00:25:54,053
are the remains of
a Hollywood intergalactic space craft.
330
00:25:55,638 --> 00:25:58,891
This wreck from Star Wars
is collecting dust
331
00:25:59,058 --> 00:26:02,603
in Coober Pedy in the Australian outback.
332
00:26:06,107 --> 00:26:10,444
Australia was where our paths crossed
for the first time
333
00:26:10,611 --> 00:26:12,572
in 1983.
334
00:26:13,906 --> 00:26:18,119
I was preparing my film,
Where The Green Ants Dream,
335
00:26:18,286 --> 00:26:22,415
and Bruce Chatwin
was researching aboriginal songs
336
00:26:22,582 --> 00:26:25,334
for his book, The Songlines.
337
00:26:25,501 --> 00:26:29,922
We were both fascinated
by aboriginal mythology.
338
00:26:31,924 --> 00:26:35,595
As Bruce never recorded his book,
The Songlines,
339
00:26:35,761 --> 00:26:38,639
I will read a passage for him.
340
00:26:41,017 --> 00:26:43,352
"On the surface of the Earth,
341
00:26:43,519 --> 00:26:46,647
the only features were certain hollows
342
00:26:46,814 --> 00:26:50,776
which would, one day, be waterholes.
343
00:26:50,943 --> 00:26:53,696
There were no animals and no plants.
344
00:26:53,863 --> 00:26:56,699
Yet, clustered round the waterholes,
345
00:26:56,866 --> 00:26:59,785
there were pulpy masses of matter.
346
00:26:59,952 --> 00:27:02,788
Lumps of primordial soup,
347
00:27:02,955 --> 00:27:06,834
soundless, sightless, unbreathing,
348
00:27:07,001 --> 00:27:09,795
unawake and unsleeping.
349
00:27:09,962 --> 00:27:13,049
Each containing the essence of life
350
00:27:13,215 --> 00:27:16,552
or the possibility of becoming human.
351
00:27:18,638 --> 00:27:21,432
Beneath the Earth's crust however,
352
00:27:21,599 --> 00:27:25,728
the constellations glimmered,
the sun shone,
353
00:27:25,895 --> 00:27:28,814
the moon waxed and waned,
354
00:27:28,981 --> 00:27:32,109
and all the forms of life lay sleeping.
355
00:27:32,777 --> 00:27:35,029
The scarlet of a desert pea,
356
00:27:35,196 --> 00:27:39,408
the iridescence on a butterfly's wing,
357
00:27:39,575 --> 00:27:44,497
the twitching white whiskers
of Old Man Kangaroo,
358
00:27:44,664 --> 00:27:47,625
dormant as seeds in the desert
359
00:27:47,792 --> 00:27:51,045
that must wait for a wandering shower.
360
00:28:01,430 --> 00:28:03,349
(music plays)
361
00:28:11,273 --> 00:28:14,527
In central Australia, I'm concerned
362
00:28:14,694 --> 00:28:16,946
with something which are called
"the Songlines,"
363
00:28:17,113 --> 00:28:18,781
or "the Dreaming Tracks."
364
00:28:18,948 --> 00:28:21,951
The Australian aboriginals had this idea
that the whole of the land
365
00:28:22,118 --> 00:28:23,661
is covered with song.
366
00:28:23,828 --> 00:28:27,373
And this is something which I find
absolutely, totally incredible,
367
00:28:27,540 --> 00:28:32,211
because I think it gives one insights
as to how language,
368
00:28:32,378 --> 00:28:35,005
song, thought, poetry,
369
00:28:35,798 --> 00:28:38,259
came into being originally.
370
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,639
I have a, a white fella's understanding
of songline,
371
00:28:43,806 --> 00:28:47,143
going from literature and conversations
with aboriginal people.
372
00:28:47,309 --> 00:28:49,603
Um... yes, I'm a musician,
373
00:28:49,770 --> 00:28:52,898
and, uh, Bruce Chatwin, of course,
374
00:28:53,065 --> 00:28:55,151
coined the term "Songlines."
375
00:28:55,317 --> 00:28:59,822
He didn't like the term
"Dreaming Tracks,"
376
00:28:59,989 --> 00:29:03,743
and wanted to find something,
I guess, more poetic.
377
00:29:05,202 --> 00:29:08,247
Aboriginal people were,
especially in central Australia,
378
00:29:08,414 --> 00:29:10,499
were traveling across a very dry landscape
379
00:29:10,666 --> 00:29:12,918
and needed a way from,
380
00:29:13,085 --> 00:29:16,005
to navigate from-- from A to B.
381
00:29:16,172 --> 00:29:21,218
They didn't use GPSes
and-- and what have you.
382
00:29:21,385 --> 00:29:23,846
So, they used mnemonics.
383
00:29:24,013 --> 00:29:26,891
So... a poetry...
384
00:29:27,057 --> 00:29:30,770
a storytelling...
that got them from "A" to "B."
385
00:29:31,353 --> 00:29:33,272
- Shakespeare: These look like--
- It's coming apart.
386
00:29:33,439 --> 00:29:35,483
Some notebooks of The Songlines.
387
00:29:35,649 --> 00:29:37,568
Shakespeare: This is his attempt
to draw a Songline.
388
00:29:37,735 --> 00:29:41,155
Herzog: Yes, can you take
the next page next to it?
389
00:29:43,783 --> 00:29:44,784
And here.
390
00:29:46,827 --> 00:29:49,538
Very, very strange sort of--
391
00:29:49,705 --> 00:29:51,791
A system of bringing knowledge
he has here.
392
00:29:52,917 --> 00:29:53,959
Yeah.
393
00:29:54,126 --> 00:29:57,004
In delineating lines
394
00:29:57,171 --> 00:30:00,674
that were formed by dreams and by song.
395
00:30:00,841 --> 00:30:03,219
And for the aborigines, of course,
396
00:30:03,385 --> 00:30:07,890
it's not just song, it's orientation
in space and it's this space--
397
00:30:08,057 --> 00:30:10,726
Shakespeare: It's the whole identity
the link that they have with the land
398
00:30:10,893 --> 00:30:11,894
A very graphic image he has.
399
00:30:12,061 --> 00:30:14,605
He goes with some aborigines in a car,
400
00:30:14,772 --> 00:30:16,565
and they're singing
the Songlines themselves,
401
00:30:16,732 --> 00:30:20,110
but as the car gets faster,
they quicken the speed of the song.
402
00:30:20,277 --> 00:30:23,197
- Herzog: Yes.
- They have to hurry through the tracks.
403
00:30:23,364 --> 00:30:25,241
I think Bruce never quite understood,
404
00:30:25,407 --> 00:30:28,035
and didn't pretend to understand,
what a Songline was.
405
00:30:28,202 --> 00:30:32,790
And when I asked him to describe it
in sound, he tried,
406
00:30:32,957 --> 00:30:34,583
"Oh, it's a low, rather beautiful 'ah'."
407
00:30:34,750 --> 00:30:36,752
And then he-- he said this sound,
408
00:30:36,919 --> 00:30:39,255
which didn't sound like anything
I ever heard again.
409
00:30:39,421 --> 00:30:42,550
When the aborigines were singing
Songlines to me...
410
00:30:46,428 --> 00:30:52,434
Nah, I don't think that the song
411
00:30:52,601 --> 00:30:54,603
created the landscape.
412
00:30:55,938 --> 00:31:00,276
I think that the landscape
413
00:31:00,442 --> 00:31:02,236
was created
414
00:31:03,404 --> 00:31:05,614
by the altira.
415
00:31:05,781 --> 00:31:08,909
And the altira and what was born
from those were the song--
416
00:31:09,076 --> 00:31:13,747
Herzog: Mikey Liddle uses here the term
in Arrernte language for "Dreamtime."
417
00:31:13,914 --> 00:31:17,960
That carried the existence of the animal
418
00:31:18,127 --> 00:31:21,964
traveling through to create the landscape.
419
00:31:25,467 --> 00:31:30,264
The animals, the trees,
growing in the landscape.
420
00:31:34,977 --> 00:31:38,188
So, that's a hard one.
421
00:31:38,355 --> 00:31:40,316
The egg or the chicken?
422
00:31:40,482 --> 00:31:43,360
The song or the landscape?
423
00:31:48,073 --> 00:31:50,784
It's a wonderful mystery,
424
00:31:50,951 --> 00:31:54,163
and I get great pleasure about
thinking about it.
425
00:31:54,330 --> 00:31:57,791
They're magnificent songs.
426
00:31:57,958 --> 00:31:59,793
They're magnificent...
427
00:32:02,963 --> 00:32:06,133
magnificent...
428
00:32:07,551 --> 00:32:10,095
procedures of communication
429
00:32:10,262 --> 00:32:15,184
that are performed by skin names,
430
00:32:16,393 --> 00:32:18,938
different categories of the Songlines.
431
00:32:19,813 --> 00:32:22,024
And then they're passed over,
432
00:32:22,191 --> 00:32:24,443
because that's as far as I can go.
433
00:32:24,610 --> 00:32:27,196
Then people take it on now.
434
00:32:28,113 --> 00:32:32,242
I'll know that and they know that.
435
00:32:33,494 --> 00:32:35,704
They have to take it on from there.
436
00:32:35,871 --> 00:32:37,414
I know the rest of that song,
437
00:32:37,581 --> 00:32:40,834
but it's then people's responsibility
to do that.
438
00:32:43,337 --> 00:32:44,964
(speaks in Arrernte)
439
00:32:48,258 --> 00:32:49,802
You're coming this way,
440
00:32:51,512 --> 00:32:53,639
and you end up here, that's the one,
441
00:32:55,182 --> 00:32:57,851
like another one going,
442
00:33:00,854 --> 00:33:03,023
and he finish up here somewhere.
443
00:33:08,070 --> 00:33:09,905
He's gone...
444
00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:13,242
and another one gone.
445
00:33:13,409 --> 00:33:17,204
He's not going too far, no.
446
00:33:17,538 --> 00:33:20,874
He's going halfway, halfway, halfway.
447
00:33:21,041 --> 00:33:22,543
He's gone.
448
00:33:22,710 --> 00:33:24,336
He's finished.
449
00:33:25,546 --> 00:33:28,424
And another one, another family coming in.
450
00:33:30,551 --> 00:33:31,969
And that's it.
451
00:33:36,265 --> 00:33:37,850
Nothing.
452
00:33:44,148 --> 00:33:47,151
Sometimes you see that plane going.
453
00:33:52,990 --> 00:33:57,369
Plane going like a big swing,
going right along.
454
00:33:57,536 --> 00:33:59,079
No.
455
00:34:00,122 --> 00:34:03,250
He should go half, half, half.
456
00:34:04,626 --> 00:34:07,838
Herzog: And does a plane
leave a Songline in the sky?
457
00:34:08,005 --> 00:34:09,590
No.
458
00:34:09,757 --> 00:34:12,926
When he flies, he's taken right through
overseas somewhere.
459
00:34:17,681 --> 00:34:20,809
Our Songlines are our way
460
00:34:20,976 --> 00:34:24,772
of contributing to the health
of the planet...
461
00:34:24,938 --> 00:34:27,441
- Herzog: In which way?
- When our old people sing,
462
00:34:27,608 --> 00:34:30,402
they reinvigorate sites,
463
00:34:31,361 --> 00:34:35,991
...and it invigorates them
at the same time.
464
00:34:36,158 --> 00:34:39,787
Our old people
had a really, really close connection.
465
00:34:39,953 --> 00:34:42,122
We still do, with country.
466
00:34:42,289 --> 00:34:43,707
And...
467
00:34:43,874 --> 00:34:47,211
Look, something in me
sort of believes that...
468
00:34:49,296 --> 00:34:51,965
when the last song man or song woman...
469
00:34:54,259 --> 00:34:55,928
passes,
470
00:34:56,095 --> 00:34:59,473
whether it be in aboriginal Australia,
471
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,101
whether it be in the Amazon forests,
472
00:35:02,267 --> 00:35:05,270
whether it be in Africa, Asia, wherever,
473
00:35:05,437 --> 00:35:08,273
something profound's gonna happen,
474
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,611
I don't know what that is,
but I think that our Songlines,
475
00:35:12,778 --> 00:35:15,030
I guess, kind of...
476
00:35:15,197 --> 00:35:19,827
hold-- hold the Earth together
in a-- in a mysterious way.
477
00:35:22,579 --> 00:35:24,998
Herzog: We are here
in the Strehlow Centre,
478
00:35:25,165 --> 00:35:29,128
named after the eminent scholar,
Theodore Strehlow.
479
00:35:29,294 --> 00:35:34,883
Who spent decades collecting knowledge
and songs of aborigines.
480
00:35:35,050 --> 00:35:38,220
This brought Bruce Chatwin to Australia.
481
00:35:39,263 --> 00:35:41,431
His monumental book, however,
482
00:35:41,598 --> 00:35:44,893
contains elements of secret knowledge
483
00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:48,063
meant only for the initiated,
484
00:35:48,230 --> 00:35:50,732
even the painting on the cover
485
00:35:50,899 --> 00:35:53,402
should not be seen by everyone.
486
00:35:53,569 --> 00:35:58,949
And we were asked to show only part of it
and out of focus.
487
00:36:00,826 --> 00:36:04,872
Now, as this book is available
for everyone,
488
00:36:05,038 --> 00:36:11,253
I can read it and I can look
into knowledge that shouldn't be for me,
489
00:36:11,420 --> 00:36:14,047
was not meant for me.
490
00:36:14,214 --> 00:36:17,259
Is that a problem for you?
491
00:36:17,426 --> 00:36:19,219
Yes, I think it is a problem.
492
00:36:19,386 --> 00:36:21,597
And it's becoming...
493
00:36:21,763 --> 00:36:24,808
more of an increasing problem.
494
00:36:27,686 --> 00:36:29,730
Look, I guess...
495
00:36:31,398 --> 00:36:36,111
This material--
I think T.G.H. Strehlow had...
496
00:36:36,278 --> 00:36:38,780
had... had some perceptions
497
00:36:38,947 --> 00:36:43,660
that this, the knowledge, would die out.
498
00:36:43,827 --> 00:36:48,916
Now there's no doubt that some
elements of aboriginal culture
499
00:36:49,082 --> 00:36:52,211
have-- have... eroded.
500
00:36:52,377 --> 00:36:55,505
But we are still here.
501
00:36:55,672 --> 00:36:58,884
We are still singing many of these songs.
502
00:36:59,051 --> 00:37:01,970
We're still performing ceremonies
every year.
503
00:37:02,137 --> 00:37:06,183
We still have a really deep connection
to country and--
504
00:37:06,350 --> 00:37:09,728
But they're not-- not meant for me,
for example.
505
00:37:09,895 --> 00:37:11,939
Not meant for my camera.
506
00:37:12,105 --> 00:37:13,023
Yeah.
507
00:37:13,190 --> 00:37:17,903
Well, a lot of the material in this
is restricted men's material.
508
00:37:18,070 --> 00:37:20,155
It's restricted knowledge.
509
00:37:20,322 --> 00:37:24,034
This documents songs in detail.
510
00:37:24,201 --> 00:37:28,872
It provides you with,
translations of songs.
511
00:37:29,039 --> 00:37:33,168
- And--
- Should the book be locked away?
512
00:37:34,086 --> 00:37:36,588
Should it be hidden away?
513
00:37:37,965 --> 00:37:39,299
Well...
514
00:37:39,466 --> 00:37:40,926
Should it be burnt?
515
00:37:43,637 --> 00:37:45,597
Look, I don't think so.
516
00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:50,894
Herzog: Theodore Strehlow looks here
like an outdoorsman,
517
00:37:51,061 --> 00:37:54,898
but growing up Hermannsburg
in central Australia,
518
00:37:55,065 --> 00:37:58,860
as the son of
a German protestant missionary,
519
00:37:59,027 --> 00:38:05,701
he was fluent in German, English,
Aranda, Latin and Ancient Greek.
520
00:38:06,702 --> 00:38:08,787
With Songs of Central Australia
521
00:38:08,954 --> 00:38:11,707
he left one, as Chatwin thought,
522
00:38:11,873 --> 00:38:14,835
of the most singular books ever written.
523
00:38:15,002 --> 00:38:19,631
Chatwin describes it as
"great and lonely."
524
00:38:19,798 --> 00:38:22,509
It is based on his field diaries,
525
00:38:22,676 --> 00:38:25,971
but connects philosophy,
ancient literature,
526
00:38:26,138 --> 00:38:30,350
mythologies of seemingly
unrelated cultures.
527
00:38:31,018 --> 00:38:33,353
This was also Chatwin's way
528
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:39,860
of connecting the most improbable
varieties of ideas and encounters.
529
00:38:40,027 --> 00:38:44,489
This became Chatwin's unique style
of storytelling.
530
00:38:45,282 --> 00:38:48,118
What I remember about the person,
I don't know if this is the same for you,
531
00:38:48,285 --> 00:38:50,370
he was like a kind of fiery ball of light,
532
00:38:50,537 --> 00:38:55,042
shedding flickering illuminations
on obscure pieces of knowledge,
533
00:38:55,208 --> 00:38:57,794
on connecting...
534
00:38:57,961 --> 00:39:01,173
countries, people, books, texts.
535
00:39:02,090 --> 00:39:05,677
I have often wondered if he was
a kind of precursor of the internet.
536
00:39:05,844 --> 00:39:08,430
He-- he offered connections--
537
00:39:08,597 --> 00:39:10,390
No, he was the internet.
538
00:39:10,557 --> 00:39:13,894
- He was the internet.
- He was the internet at a time when
539
00:39:14,061 --> 00:39:16,396
technically, it did not exist.
540
00:39:16,563 --> 00:39:19,066
He was the internet.
541
00:39:20,108 --> 00:39:24,279
In Alice Springs,
not far from the Strehlow Centre,
542
00:39:24,446 --> 00:39:26,448
we met Peter Bartlett,
543
00:39:26,615 --> 00:39:28,450
a very well-read man,
544
00:39:28,617 --> 00:39:31,161
who has lived with aborigines
545
00:39:31,328 --> 00:39:33,872
since he was a young man.
546
00:39:34,039 --> 00:39:36,416
He's a speaker of Warlpiri,
547
00:39:36,583 --> 00:39:40,295
and a fully initiated member
of this tribe.
548
00:39:41,671 --> 00:39:44,966
He has read and reread The Songlines,
549
00:39:45,133 --> 00:39:47,219
and could, as he says,
550
00:39:47,386 --> 00:39:51,848
"write a thousand pages
of commentary about it."
551
00:39:52,641 --> 00:39:57,896
He told us about his experience
with aboriginal songs.
552
00:39:58,563 --> 00:40:01,733
Some of these performances
that I heard when I was young
553
00:40:01,900 --> 00:40:03,985
were just so powerful.
554
00:40:04,152 --> 00:40:09,408
And... and then so it was
a real mystery to me or why they--
555
00:40:09,574 --> 00:40:12,202
Was it more powerful than Wagner and--
556
00:40:12,369 --> 00:40:13,495
Yeah! When you--
557
00:40:13,662 --> 00:40:16,415
You know, men would be screaming
the songs out.
558
00:40:16,581 --> 00:40:17,499
And, you know, they--
559
00:40:17,666 --> 00:40:22,087
And it would be like a competition
between 10 football teams, you know?
560
00:40:22,254 --> 00:40:25,465
And-- and you'd have voices that would--
561
00:40:25,632 --> 00:40:28,969
Really supreme singers
that could put their voice
562
00:40:29,136 --> 00:40:30,887
right over hundreds of men
563
00:40:31,054 --> 00:40:35,392
singing intensely and stomp, you know,
all the percussion sounds
564
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:36,893
that they'd be making.
565
00:40:37,060 --> 00:40:40,313
And you'd have these top singers
that could take their voices
566
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,358
right over the top and, you know, like...
567
00:40:43,525 --> 00:40:47,863
So, yeah. No, and it would all be done
in darkness with stars.
568
00:40:48,029 --> 00:40:50,323
(softly singing)
569
00:40:50,490 --> 00:40:54,703
Herzog: Peter Bartlett introduced us
to his Warlpiri mentor,
570
00:40:54,870 --> 00:40:57,122
Robin Granites.
571
00:41:00,250 --> 00:41:02,335
(softly speaking in Warlpiri)
572
00:41:02,502 --> 00:41:05,755
(in English)
The tunes-- the tunes are right,
573
00:41:05,922 --> 00:41:08,300
but the wording that--
574
00:41:08,467 --> 00:41:10,886
- They have a lot of songs, right?
- Yeah.
575
00:41:11,052 --> 00:41:15,182
Right? But they don't have decent words.
576
00:41:16,808 --> 00:41:19,978
Herzog: Are the lyrics
of the Songlines eroding?
577
00:41:20,145 --> 00:41:22,397
Or should we rather suspect
578
00:41:22,564 --> 00:41:26,359
that he does not want to reveal
everything to our camera?
579
00:41:26,526 --> 00:41:28,612
Bartlett: Well, what about
that one I used to sing?
580
00:41:28,778 --> 00:41:30,655
Maybe it's the wrong one for you?
581
00:41:30,822 --> 00:41:32,657
That... (speaks Warlpiri) one?
582
00:41:32,824 --> 00:41:36,953
(singing in Warlpiri)
583
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:39,498
(both speak Warlpiri)
584
00:41:56,056 --> 00:41:58,016
(singing in Warlpiri)
585
00:42:22,499 --> 00:42:24,376
(singing continues)
586
00:42:46,648 --> 00:42:50,694
Herzog: This here is
a mission station in Hermannsburg.
587
00:42:50,860 --> 00:42:55,365
Bruce was searching here
for something profound,
588
00:42:55,532 --> 00:42:59,327
a whole world embedded
in ancient aboriginal songs.
589
00:42:59,494 --> 00:43:01,246
(people singing in foreign language)
590
00:43:01,413 --> 00:43:02,872
It does not feel right to me
591
00:43:03,039 --> 00:43:06,501
how the missionaries transformed
the culture of song
592
00:43:06,668 --> 00:43:09,879
into Lutheran piety.
593
00:43:10,046 --> 00:43:12,549
(singing in foreign language)
594
00:43:24,269 --> 00:43:27,897
The furnishings date back
to Theodore's father,
595
00:43:28,064 --> 00:43:31,192
Carl Strehlow, the Lutheran pastor.
596
00:43:32,235 --> 00:43:35,989
Everything here
seems to be frozen in time.
597
00:43:36,156 --> 00:43:38,908
(singing continues)
598
00:44:03,350 --> 00:44:05,810
(music plays)
599
00:44:09,898 --> 00:44:13,943
I was always in search
of this elusive manuscript,
600
00:44:14,110 --> 00:44:15,445
which he had said he'd written.
601
00:44:15,612 --> 00:44:19,783
He'd spent, himself, seven years writing,
The Nomadic Alternative.
602
00:44:19,949 --> 00:44:23,870
Which was the key of his theory
about nomadism, about walking about.
603
00:44:24,037 --> 00:44:26,998
How walking cures you,
which you must've talked with him about.
604
00:44:27,165 --> 00:44:29,959
And the library allowed us to touch it,
605
00:44:30,126 --> 00:44:32,170
to read from it, look into it.
606
00:44:32,337 --> 00:44:35,048
...I can show it.
607
00:44:35,215 --> 00:44:36,633
It's for real.
608
00:44:37,425 --> 00:44:38,802
It is...
609
00:44:38,968 --> 00:44:40,804
- This is called--
- You had searched for it.
610
00:44:40,970 --> 00:44:42,972
I had searched for this for seven years.
611
00:44:43,139 --> 00:44:45,308
I found it literally
in the last summer I was here.
612
00:44:45,475 --> 00:44:46,810
It's called The Nomadic Alternative,
613
00:44:46,976 --> 00:44:49,562
and it was the manuscript
that Bruce was commissioned to write
614
00:44:49,729 --> 00:44:51,106
when he was a young--
615
00:44:51,272 --> 00:44:55,360
After he'd left studying...
archaeology at Edinburgh,
616
00:44:55,527 --> 00:44:58,196
he was commissioned to do this book
617
00:44:58,363 --> 00:45:01,157
on his theory about
walking and nomadism.
618
00:45:01,491 --> 00:45:04,744
Of course, I had a similar world view,
619
00:45:04,911 --> 00:45:08,289
that with nomadic existence,
620
00:45:08,456 --> 00:45:11,918
with the demise of nomadic life...
621
00:45:12,085 --> 00:45:17,298
city life, sedentary life
would come in, in place.
622
00:45:17,465 --> 00:45:20,677
Meaning, huge amount of human beings,
623
00:45:20,844 --> 00:45:23,388
technology,
624
00:45:23,555 --> 00:45:27,183
all of which is now probably working
625
00:45:27,350 --> 00:45:29,728
at the distraction of the human race.
626
00:45:29,894 --> 00:45:32,731
And he was quite sure that...
627
00:45:32,897 --> 00:45:35,275
humanity was fragile,
628
00:45:35,442 --> 00:45:38,528
that we had... maybe 100,000,
629
00:45:38,695 --> 00:45:42,490
or a little more than 100,000 years,
as homo sapiens.
630
00:45:42,657 --> 00:45:45,368
But we may not have that much left.
631
00:45:46,119 --> 00:45:49,956
That we might disappear
like other species have disappeared.
632
00:45:50,123 --> 00:45:54,669
So, what did you think of his theory
of nomadism, as you understood it?
633
00:45:54,836 --> 00:45:58,089
I had an immediate rapport,
634
00:45:58,256 --> 00:46:02,260
because I-- in my thinking,
and in my experiences on foot,
635
00:46:02,427 --> 00:46:06,014
I had made exactly the same...
636
00:46:06,181 --> 00:46:08,850
ideas, impressions,
637
00:46:09,017 --> 00:46:10,643
experiences.
638
00:46:14,147 --> 00:46:18,651
These here are the last nomadic people
of Tierra Del Fuego,
639
00:46:18,818 --> 00:46:21,988
photographed a mere 100 years ago.
640
00:46:22,155 --> 00:46:25,283
Bruce Chatwin had seen these photos
641
00:46:25,450 --> 00:46:27,702
while he was in Patagonia.
642
00:46:28,369 --> 00:46:35,001
For him, it was clear that we could not
revert to the times of nomadism.
643
00:46:35,168 --> 00:46:39,964
But he was fascinated by the fact
that humans in East Africa,
644
00:46:40,131 --> 00:46:43,510
where we originated as homo sapiens
645
00:46:43,676 --> 00:46:46,721
around 150,000 years ago,
646
00:46:46,888 --> 00:46:49,265
travelled the longest distance
647
00:46:49,432 --> 00:46:52,310
humans could possibly go.
648
00:46:52,977 --> 00:46:55,814
From East Africa to the near east,
649
00:46:55,980 --> 00:46:58,441
spreading to Asia and Siberia.
650
00:46:58,608 --> 00:47:01,653
Crossing the Bering Strait into Alaska,
651
00:47:01,820 --> 00:47:06,199
and from there,
all the way down through the Americas
652
00:47:06,366 --> 00:47:09,577
to the southernmost tip of South America.
653
00:47:11,955 --> 00:47:14,249
Ten thousand years ago,
654
00:47:14,415 --> 00:47:19,379
they left their imprint in a cave
under an overhang.
655
00:47:19,546 --> 00:47:23,842
Bruce Chatwin and they
had the same vista.
656
00:47:25,552 --> 00:47:28,680
Is there still an echo of their voices?
657
00:47:28,847 --> 00:47:33,643
(harmonizing music)
658
00:47:59,210 --> 00:48:02,922
The never ending wind is still the same,
659
00:48:03,089 --> 00:48:05,508
and so are the animals they hunted,
660
00:48:05,675 --> 00:48:07,886
mostly guanacos.
661
00:48:23,026 --> 00:48:28,823
The depictions of animals
are lively and fairly realistic,
662
00:48:28,990 --> 00:48:33,745
but how the prehistoric nomads looked
remains a mystery.
663
00:48:38,833 --> 00:48:40,793
This here could be a dancer,
664
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:44,088
a hybrid between man and frog.
665
00:48:46,299 --> 00:48:50,970
Frogs appear to have been
important totemic creatures.
666
00:48:51,137 --> 00:48:54,349
The hands of these long gone people,
667
00:48:54,515 --> 00:48:57,936
are the direct imprint of their presence.
668
00:48:58,102 --> 00:49:01,689
Almost forensic evidence.
669
00:49:01,856 --> 00:49:03,650
But the longer you look,
670
00:49:03,816 --> 00:49:05,401
the more unreal,
671
00:49:05,568 --> 00:49:08,237
the more mysterious they become.
672
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,407
(harmonizing continues)
673
00:50:03,626 --> 00:50:06,921
The photos, 10,000 years later,
674
00:50:07,088 --> 00:50:10,550
have already become inexplicable.
675
00:50:10,717 --> 00:50:12,885
This one has been interpreted
676
00:50:13,052 --> 00:50:17,807
as showing a shaman who,
with his hands outstretched,
677
00:50:17,974 --> 00:50:21,185
tells his people of a lunar eclipse.
678
00:50:22,687 --> 00:50:25,898
This one is one of my favorites.
679
00:50:26,065 --> 00:50:28,359
The painted man in the foreground
680
00:50:28,526 --> 00:50:32,363
is supposed to be a spirit
among the living.
681
00:50:34,032 --> 00:50:39,037
No one today has any idea
about what is going on here.
682
00:50:39,203 --> 00:50:44,083
It seems to be a ceremony
performed by naked men.
683
00:50:45,126 --> 00:50:51,049
In this one, the only thing we know
is that these men are not dead.
684
00:50:51,215 --> 00:50:54,761
This maybe a ritual performance of death.
685
00:50:57,889 --> 00:51:01,142
What the paintings
of faces and bodies mean,
686
00:51:01,309 --> 00:51:03,186
we do not know either,
687
00:51:03,352 --> 00:51:08,941
but they point to a complex
system of beliefs and ceremonies.
688
00:51:13,571 --> 00:51:15,531
(harmonizing)
689
00:51:33,716 --> 00:51:37,428
Nomads, their bodies and faces painted,
690
00:51:37,595 --> 00:51:39,931
always fascinated Bruce Chatwin.
691
00:51:41,390 --> 00:51:44,977
Even when he was
only days away from death,
692
00:51:45,144 --> 00:51:48,022
he wanted to see my just-finished film
693
00:51:48,189 --> 00:51:52,360
on Wodaabe tribesmen
in the southern Sahara.
694
00:51:52,527 --> 00:51:56,072
Each year,
they meet in the middle of nowhere,
695
00:51:56,239 --> 00:52:00,118
and the young men elaborately
adorn their faces.
696
00:52:01,119 --> 00:52:04,580
They compete for beauty
in front of the women,
697
00:52:04,747 --> 00:52:08,501
and showing the whites
of their eyes and their teeth
698
00:52:08,668 --> 00:52:12,338
is considered the highest mark
of their beauty.
699
00:52:13,422 --> 00:52:17,176
These images were
the last Bruce ever saw
700
00:52:17,343 --> 00:52:20,221
before he lapsed into his final coma.
701
00:52:33,442 --> 00:52:37,321
All these tribal cultures
are in their last days.
702
00:52:38,573 --> 00:52:43,828
Bruce wrote about their abrupt encounters
with Western civilization.
703
00:52:46,455 --> 00:52:50,793
I'm reading now an excerpt of Chatwin's
In Patagonia
704
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:53,880
that he did not read in his recording.
705
00:52:55,006 --> 00:52:57,550
"Bernal Días relates how,
706
00:52:57,717 --> 00:53:01,304
on seeing the jeweled cities of Mexico,
707
00:53:01,470 --> 00:53:04,015
the Conquistadores wondered
708
00:53:04,182 --> 00:53:08,394
if they had not stepped
into the book of Amadis
709
00:53:08,561 --> 00:53:10,855
or the fabric of a dream."
710
00:53:11,647 --> 00:53:14,567
His lines are sometimes quoted
711
00:53:14,734 --> 00:53:16,819
to support the assertion
712
00:53:16,986 --> 00:53:20,781
that history aspires
to the symmetry of myth.
713
00:53:21,449 --> 00:53:25,661
A similar case concerns
Magellan's landfall
714
00:53:25,828 --> 00:53:28,789
at San Julian in 1520.
715
00:53:29,832 --> 00:53:34,420
From the ship they saw a giant
dancing naked on the shore,
716
00:53:34,587 --> 00:53:37,089
dancing and leaping and singing,
717
00:53:37,256 --> 00:53:42,011
and while singing,
throwing sand and dust on his head.
718
00:53:42,178 --> 00:53:44,347
As the white men approached,
719
00:53:44,513 --> 00:53:47,099
he raised one finger to the sky
720
00:53:47,266 --> 00:53:50,811
questioning whether
they had come from heaven.
721
00:53:50,978 --> 00:53:53,564
When led before the Captain-General
722
00:53:53,731 --> 00:53:55,900
he covered his nakedness
723
00:53:56,067 --> 00:53:58,945
with a cape of guanaco hide.
724
00:54:01,447 --> 00:54:04,200
The faces of these tribal people
725
00:54:04,367 --> 00:54:08,162
seem to betray a similar
shock of encounter
726
00:54:08,329 --> 00:54:10,289
with a mythical vessel.
727
00:54:12,583 --> 00:54:16,003
An exact replica of Magellan's ship
728
00:54:16,170 --> 00:54:19,799
sits on dry land in Punta Arenas,
729
00:54:19,966 --> 00:54:22,468
but the myth lives on.
730
00:54:23,844 --> 00:54:27,431
Is the ship not tossed by raging waves?
731
00:54:28,391 --> 00:54:31,352
Does a storm whip it along?
732
00:54:31,519 --> 00:54:37,191
Do the ropes and the rigging
sing a siren's song in the wind?
733
00:54:38,484 --> 00:54:42,446
Are these ice flows a mortal hazard
734
00:54:42,613 --> 00:54:45,783
for the ship rounding the rocks
of Cape Horn?
735
00:54:47,702 --> 00:54:51,122
Have the conquistadors failed
in their mission
736
00:54:51,289 --> 00:54:55,001
to convert the natives to Christianity,
737
00:54:55,167 --> 00:54:59,213
or has it remained a hollow promise?
738
00:55:08,347 --> 00:55:10,308
(music plays)
739
00:55:25,406 --> 00:55:28,326
Retracing Chatwin's journey,
740
00:55:28,492 --> 00:55:31,537
we cross the Beagle Channel into Chile.
741
00:55:33,289 --> 00:55:37,293
This here is the Chilean customs
and immigration building
742
00:55:37,460 --> 00:55:39,628
on the Isla Navarino,
743
00:55:39,795 --> 00:55:44,425
the last large island
before the end of the continent.
744
00:55:45,718 --> 00:55:48,346
Chatwin was in search of traces
745
00:55:48,512 --> 00:55:51,390
of the nomadic people of Patagonia.
746
00:55:53,184 --> 00:55:54,643
(speaking indistinctly)
747
00:55:57,563 --> 00:56:00,983
We came across a group of archaeologists
748
00:56:01,150 --> 00:56:04,445
who were digging up an ancient campsite.
749
00:56:09,867 --> 00:56:15,122
This area was sporadically inhabited
by wandering tribes.
750
00:56:15,915 --> 00:56:19,168
Over hundreds, maybe thousands of years,
751
00:56:19,335 --> 00:56:22,171
they left layer upon layer of seashells.
752
00:56:23,089 --> 00:56:26,717
Vaguely visible here,
this distinct strata.
753
00:56:28,260 --> 00:56:30,221
(marching band plays)
754
00:56:51,409 --> 00:56:53,494
Modern day Navarino Island
755
00:56:53,661 --> 00:56:55,788
is trying to preserve
756
00:56:55,955 --> 00:56:58,457
the history of ancient nomads.
757
00:56:59,083 --> 00:57:02,420
These Chilean students are the future now,
758
00:57:02,586 --> 00:57:04,880
they're marching in celebration
759
00:57:05,047 --> 00:57:08,300
of the founding day of Puerto Williams,
760
00:57:08,467 --> 00:57:10,886
the only settlement on the island.
761
00:57:27,027 --> 00:57:30,614
As recently as the late 19th century,
762
00:57:30,781 --> 00:57:34,785
people from here
were exhibited in a zoo in Paris.
763
00:57:35,911 --> 00:57:38,998
They all died out through epidemics
764
00:57:39,165 --> 00:57:42,001
or were killed by white settlers.
765
00:57:42,668 --> 00:57:45,588
The murderers gave this photo the title
766
00:57:45,754 --> 00:57:47,798
"In the field of honor."
767
00:57:53,679 --> 00:57:55,639
(wood creeks)
768
00:58:00,102 --> 00:58:04,982
Scores of Yagans, Selk'nams, Kawéscar,
769
00:58:05,149 --> 00:58:10,696
and other indigenous groups,
were buried in this tribal cemetery.
770
00:58:13,032 --> 00:58:14,992
(music plays)
771
00:58:23,000 --> 00:58:27,546
This end of a civilization
frightened Bruce Chatwin.
772
00:58:27,713 --> 00:58:29,590
He wanted conversation.
773
00:58:29,757 --> 00:58:34,053
He was into speech
as if by manic compulsion.
774
00:58:34,970 --> 00:58:38,224
To me, it was as if he was speaking
775
00:58:38,390 --> 00:58:41,310
to push his untimely death away.
776
00:58:46,273 --> 00:58:49,318
He was talking, talking, talking,
777
00:58:49,485 --> 00:58:52,196
so, to the top of the table.
778
00:58:52,363 --> 00:58:54,907
And everybody laughed a lot.
779
00:58:55,074 --> 00:58:58,035
And that was-- It was nice.
780
00:58:58,202 --> 00:59:01,330
It was just so sad that he didn't live.
781
00:59:02,540 --> 00:59:05,668
You know, because he--
I can imagine what he would still be--
782
00:59:05,834 --> 00:59:08,754
I mean, he had so many books
already still in his head
783
00:59:08,921 --> 00:59:10,673
that he wanted to write.
784
00:59:11,465 --> 00:59:13,342
Herzog: Do you hear his voice still?
785
00:59:14,176 --> 00:59:17,930
Oh, I can, yes.
I can if you say that, I can hear it.
786
00:59:18,097 --> 00:59:19,515
Mmm, in my head.
787
00:59:19,682 --> 00:59:22,309
- Yeah, I can.
- His laughter?
788
00:59:22,476 --> 00:59:24,562
- Hmm?
- His laughter?
789
00:59:24,728 --> 00:59:27,022
Oh, yeah. Laughter, yeah.
790
00:59:27,189 --> 00:59:29,400
- His shrieks.
- Shrieks, yeah.
791
00:59:29,567 --> 00:59:32,361
I was gonna say shrieks. Exactly, yeah.
792
00:59:32,528 --> 00:59:35,030
He... he loved-- he loved telling jokes.
793
00:59:35,197 --> 00:59:38,826
And he loved telling adventures and so on.
794
00:59:38,993 --> 00:59:42,246
- His storytelling--
- I mean, he would go to a party,
795
00:59:43,038 --> 00:59:46,834
and walk in with me trailing behind.
796
00:59:47,001 --> 00:59:49,420
And he would walk straight--
797
00:59:49,587 --> 00:59:52,590
And then immediately he was surrounded.
798
00:59:53,257 --> 00:59:54,800
You know, like this,
799
00:59:54,967 --> 00:59:57,428
with people who wanted to talk to him.
800
00:59:57,595 --> 01:00:00,389
He'd go into the house already talking.
801
01:00:01,223 --> 01:00:03,267
He was a talker.
802
01:00:03,434 --> 01:00:05,227
I mean, he was interested in characters
803
01:00:05,394 --> 01:00:07,354
and in stories and in...
804
01:00:07,521 --> 01:00:11,400
and in mimicry and in-- in...
805
01:00:11,859 --> 01:00:14,069
As you say, these shrieks were...
806
01:00:14,236 --> 01:00:15,988
One wanted to bottle them in a way,
807
01:00:16,155 --> 01:00:20,618
because they were both painful
and exciting and-- and encouraging.
808
01:00:21,452 --> 01:00:22,911
They were...
809
01:00:23,078 --> 01:00:26,248
They were... the essence of something.
810
01:00:26,874 --> 01:00:31,337
Yes I remember his voice and everything
when-- when we met in Melbourne.
811
01:00:32,254 --> 01:00:36,967
Pretty much from the airport...
we started to tell stories to each other,
812
01:00:37,134 --> 01:00:38,427
and it was a marathon,
813
01:00:38,594 --> 01:00:42,139
literally a marathon
of two days, two nights.
814
01:00:42,306 --> 01:00:45,559
Of course, we slept in between,
five, six hours.
815
01:00:45,726 --> 01:00:48,187
The moment we-- we met at breakfast,
816
01:00:48,354 --> 01:00:50,397
he would continue, I would continue.
817
01:00:50,564 --> 01:00:53,442
Of course, it was hard
to squeeze in a story
818
01:00:53,609 --> 01:00:59,531
because he was non-stop
and his way to imitate voices
819
01:00:59,698 --> 01:01:01,867
was-- is still in my ear.
820
01:01:02,034 --> 01:01:04,828
I remember one story he told about
821
01:01:04,995 --> 01:01:08,040
the interior of Australia, aborigines.
822
01:01:08,207 --> 01:01:13,295
A very wealthy American couple
arrives in a private plane.
823
01:01:13,462 --> 01:01:15,798
The wife in high heels
824
01:01:15,964 --> 01:01:19,885
takes a photo of an aborigine
squatting on the ground, an old man.
825
01:01:20,052 --> 01:01:24,056
And he, full of contempt,
spits at her feet.
826
01:01:24,223 --> 01:01:27,685
And she immediately noticed
she should have asked him for permission,
827
01:01:27,851 --> 01:01:30,479
and apologies and asks,
828
01:01:30,646 --> 01:01:33,565
"Can we-- can we give you a gift
or something?
829
01:01:33,732 --> 01:01:37,820
Maybe not money but something
practical that you can use.
830
01:01:37,986 --> 01:01:39,154
What can we send you?"
831
01:01:39,321 --> 01:01:42,241
And the aborigine,
without missing a beat, says,
832
01:01:42,408 --> 01:01:47,121
"Four Toyota pickup trucks"
833
01:01:48,414 --> 01:01:51,166
That's how Bruce spoke.
834
01:01:51,333 --> 01:01:54,586
And then he would imitate
the voice of the woman
835
01:01:54,753 --> 01:01:57,631
who didn't know what to do now.
836
01:02:07,558 --> 01:02:09,768
Back in Patagonia,
837
01:02:09,935 --> 01:02:13,063
mountains were not Bruce's terrain.
838
01:02:13,230 --> 01:02:14,481
They were mine,
839
01:02:14,648 --> 01:02:17,860
as I had grown up
in the mountains of Bavaria.
840
01:02:18,777 --> 01:02:23,031
But his leather rucksack
would play an important role here.
841
01:02:23,824 --> 01:02:29,037
He, himself, had walked with this rucksack
for thousands of miles.
842
01:02:32,082 --> 01:02:33,876
I always drink here.
843
01:02:37,838 --> 01:02:42,551
I made my feature film
Scream of Stone on Cerro Torre
844
01:02:42,718 --> 01:02:46,680
and the protagonist,
as an homage to Bruce Chatwin,
845
01:02:46,847 --> 01:02:49,099
who had died the year before,
846
01:02:49,266 --> 01:02:51,935
carries it throughout the film.
847
01:02:52,853 --> 01:02:55,773
At one point during production,
848
01:02:55,939 --> 01:02:58,776
it would acquire significance for me.
849
01:03:02,613 --> 01:03:07,785
Cerro Torre is one of the ultimate
challenges for climbers.
850
01:03:07,951 --> 01:03:10,913
Aside from the prohibitive rock faces,
851
01:03:11,079 --> 01:03:13,957
it is the raging storms
852
01:03:14,124 --> 01:03:15,876
that pose the danger.
853
01:03:17,503 --> 01:03:20,839
In a way, the film, for me,
854
01:03:21,006 --> 01:03:23,842
had to do with the death of Chatwin.
855
01:03:24,843 --> 01:03:26,637
When I saw Bruce...
856
01:03:27,763 --> 01:03:32,142
there was only a skeleton and eyes
857
01:03:32,309 --> 01:03:34,436
glowing out of his skeleton.
858
01:03:35,604 --> 01:03:38,982
And Elizabeth left,
and the first thing he said,
859
01:03:39,149 --> 01:03:40,734
"Werner, I'm dying."
860
01:03:42,194 --> 01:03:45,739
And I looked at him and I said,
"Bruce, I can see that."
861
01:03:46,907 --> 01:03:49,117
Almost matter of fact.
862
01:03:49,284 --> 01:03:51,078
And then he said...
863
01:03:51,787 --> 01:03:54,998
"I want to die now.
Help me, help me, help me.
864
01:03:55,165 --> 01:03:57,709
Can you kill me off somehow?"
865
01:03:57,876 --> 01:03:59,336
And I said,
866
01:04:00,963 --> 01:04:05,217
"Do you mean I am
going to bash in your head
867
01:04:05,384 --> 01:04:08,387
with a baseball bat
or do I shoot you?"
868
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:14,101
And he said, "Maybe some--
some sort of... medicine or so."
869
01:04:14,268 --> 01:04:17,396
And I said,
"Why don't you talk to Elizabeth?"
870
01:04:17,563 --> 01:04:21,066
"No, I cannot talk about this.
She's so Catholic."
871
01:04:22,276 --> 01:04:24,152
And...
872
01:04:25,737 --> 01:04:31,243
So, my only present to him
was not a gun to shoot him,
873
01:04:31,410 --> 01:04:32,995
but I showed him the film.
874
01:04:34,663 --> 01:04:38,584
And he would see ten minutes of it
and then lapse into a delirium,
875
01:04:38,750 --> 01:04:42,921
and then see another 10 minutes,
and he would...
876
01:04:44,131 --> 01:04:47,050
He would all of a sudden come back,
877
01:04:47,926 --> 01:04:51,013
and be totally clear,
and he would shout out to me,
878
01:04:51,179 --> 01:04:54,391
"I've gotta be on the road again.
I've gotta be on the road again."
879
01:04:55,350 --> 01:04:59,646
And he looked at his legs,
they were only spindles,
880
01:04:59,813 --> 01:05:02,608
and he says,
"But my rucksack is too heavy."
881
01:05:03,775 --> 01:05:06,570
And I said, "Bruce,
I can carry a rucksack.
882
01:05:06,737 --> 01:05:08,780
I'm strong enough. I'll come with you."
883
01:05:09,531 --> 01:05:12,075
And... then...
884
01:05:12,826 --> 01:05:17,080
Somehow, he apparently,
after two days... when I was there,
885
01:05:17,247 --> 01:05:21,209
he was embarrassed to die in front of me,
886
01:05:21,376 --> 01:05:24,379
and he said, "Can you please leave?"
887
01:05:25,714 --> 01:05:29,217
And he said, "You must carry..."
888
01:05:33,931 --> 01:05:35,557
Can we show it?
889
01:05:36,767 --> 01:05:37,643
(clears throat)
890
01:05:37,809 --> 01:05:40,103
So, that's his rucksack.
891
01:05:40,270 --> 01:05:42,522
Elizabeth, actually,
going back to England,
892
01:05:42,689 --> 01:05:44,399
it was in England, sent it to me.
893
01:05:45,067 --> 01:05:46,735
And I have used it.
894
01:05:46,902 --> 01:05:48,195
I've used it a lot.
895
01:05:49,446 --> 01:05:53,241
The film carries a mood of precariousness.
896
01:05:53,408 --> 01:05:56,453
Everything can end in sudden death.
897
01:05:57,579 --> 01:06:00,749
Bruce always loved my film, Fitzcarraldo.
898
01:06:00,916 --> 01:06:06,588
Where I actually moved a big steam boat
over a mountain.
899
01:06:06,755 --> 01:06:11,551
He always loved when cinema
was authentic in its purest form.
900
01:06:12,177 --> 01:06:16,807
Here, it is obvious that my actor,
Stefan Glowacz,
901
01:06:16,974 --> 01:06:19,351
the best free climber of his time,
902
01:06:19,518 --> 01:06:22,771
uses no safety devices at all.
903
01:06:22,938 --> 01:06:24,773
He refused everything.
904
01:06:24,940 --> 01:06:28,610
No rope, no carabines, nothing.
905
01:06:32,906 --> 01:06:34,866
(birds chirp)
906
01:07:25,917 --> 01:07:29,713
It's cloudy as always,
you know that there for me.
907
01:07:29,880 --> 01:07:31,506
But you know it's...
908
01:07:31,673 --> 01:07:35,302
For me, it's incredible to stay here
with you. You know, it's a real pleasure.
909
01:07:35,469 --> 01:07:39,598
And I living here since
when you make the movie in the 90's--
910
01:07:39,765 --> 01:07:42,309
Yes, but-- but I'm not the protagonist.
911
01:07:42,476 --> 01:07:43,685
- You're not? Okay.
- No, no, no.
912
01:07:43,852 --> 01:07:47,773
Protagonist is Bruce Chatwin,
this rucksack.
913
01:07:47,939 --> 01:07:49,983
- Okay, yeah. No, but, yeah.
- That's his rucksack.
914
01:07:50,150 --> 01:07:51,443
(wind howls)
915
01:07:52,944 --> 01:07:54,571
The production of the film
916
01:07:54,738 --> 01:07:59,076
was full of hardships
that became part of the story.
917
01:07:59,826 --> 01:08:02,913
It was the storms that troubled us most.
918
01:08:07,084 --> 01:08:13,006
And after 10, 12 days pandemonium
of storms, we had a crystal-clear light.
919
01:08:13,173 --> 01:08:16,802
A completely blue sky morning and I said--
920
01:08:16,968 --> 01:08:18,929
We flew up with the helicopter.
921
01:08:19,096 --> 01:08:20,889
It would take weeks to climb up there.
922
01:08:21,056 --> 01:08:22,933
We flew up in the helicopter.
923
01:08:23,809 --> 01:08:25,435
Made the mistake that the--
924
01:08:25,602 --> 01:08:29,272
our reserve rescue team did not fly first.
925
01:08:29,439 --> 01:08:32,275
The helicopter dropped us
and then disappeared.
926
01:08:32,442 --> 01:08:38,073
And then an incredible hit,
a storm hit us.
927
01:08:38,240 --> 01:08:40,492
In-- in a minute my--
928
01:08:40,659 --> 01:08:43,787
We got in and my mustache was ice,
929
01:08:43,954 --> 01:08:46,998
and it was 20 degrees below zero.
930
01:08:47,165 --> 01:08:50,418
It may be a 200 kilometer storm.
931
01:08:51,044 --> 01:08:53,880
- Well, we dug a hole into the ice.
- Mm-hmm.
932
01:08:54,047 --> 01:08:56,133
Just like a barrel of wine,
933
01:08:56,299 --> 01:08:58,093
and crawled in and sat there.
934
01:08:58,260 --> 01:09:01,346
And we were 55 hours,
935
01:09:02,264 --> 01:09:05,142
two days, two nights and a half a day,
936
01:09:05,308 --> 01:09:06,935
something like that.
937
01:09:07,102 --> 01:09:09,980
And it was storm, storm and white out.
938
01:09:10,147 --> 01:09:14,359
I could not see you
at this distance anymore.
939
01:09:14,526 --> 01:09:15,986
And no sleeping bags?
940
01:09:16,153 --> 01:09:18,655
Nothing. No tent, no food.
941
01:09:18,822 --> 01:09:20,907
I had two little chocolate bars
942
01:09:21,074 --> 01:09:23,618
that I distributed at the beginning.
943
01:09:25,287 --> 01:09:28,373
But again it's-- it's not that
I-- I'm not the protagonist--
944
01:09:28,540 --> 01:09:30,458
- No, I know, but--
- Bruce Chatwin--
945
01:09:30,625 --> 01:09:34,004
You told me something about your rucksack
in that moment. What happened?
946
01:09:34,171 --> 01:09:37,674
I sat on the rucksack
for-- for all this time,
947
01:09:37,841 --> 01:09:41,595
- and it-- it sheltered me from--
- Yeah, yes.
948
01:09:41,761 --> 01:09:44,055
Because you lose
a lot of temperature when you sit...
949
01:09:44,222 --> 01:09:46,766
- On ice.
- ...on ice, yeah.
950
01:09:47,851 --> 01:09:51,146
But people say, "It saved your life."
951
01:09:51,313 --> 01:09:56,026
No, that's nonsense because the two
others were just sitting on the ice as well,
952
01:09:56,193 --> 01:09:58,111
- and they-- they did not die.
- Yeah.
953
01:09:59,070 --> 01:10:02,449
And then they tried to come towards us,
954
01:10:02,616 --> 01:10:04,034
- and they--
- That was not possible.
955
01:10:04,201 --> 01:10:06,203
No. Well, they tried,
956
01:10:06,369 --> 01:10:08,788
but they were taken
down by an avalanche.
957
01:10:08,955 --> 01:10:13,376
And one of them snapped his finger
and took his gloves off,
958
01:10:13,543 --> 01:10:18,757
and threw it in the storm and asked
for the waiter to pay for his cappuccino.
959
01:10:20,133 --> 01:10:22,135
So, they had to take him down.
960
01:10:22,302 --> 01:10:26,348
After 55 hours, we saw a bit of the sky.
961
01:10:26,514 --> 01:10:30,852
Our helicopter was able to take us out.
962
01:10:34,231 --> 01:10:39,611
Since then, Bruce's rucksack
is more than just a memory of him.
963
01:10:40,487 --> 01:10:43,990
Both Bruce and I
explored the world on foot.
964
01:10:44,157 --> 01:10:45,533
I, myself,
965
01:10:45,700 --> 01:10:48,119
believing in the power of walking,
966
01:10:48,286 --> 01:10:50,956
have travelled on foot
from Munich to Paris
967
01:10:51,122 --> 01:10:54,084
as a pilgrimage to save my mentor,
968
01:10:54,251 --> 01:10:57,254
Lotte Eisner, from dying.
969
01:10:57,879 --> 01:10:59,839
My dairies of this march
970
01:11:00,006 --> 01:11:04,135
were published under the title of
Walking in Ice,
971
01:11:04,302 --> 01:11:08,473
and Bruce often carried my book
in his rucksack.
972
01:11:08,640 --> 01:11:13,603
It... has a value
that you cannot describe.
973
01:11:15,480 --> 01:11:17,524
Bruce always liked my dictum,
974
01:11:17,691 --> 01:11:19,317
when I said to him,
975
01:11:19,484 --> 01:11:24,322
"The world reveals itself
to those who travel on foot."
976
01:11:25,699 --> 01:11:27,659
(water falls)
977
01:11:34,499 --> 01:11:36,459
(speaking indistinctly)
978
01:11:44,718 --> 01:11:48,138
During our first encounters in Australia,
979
01:11:48,305 --> 01:11:52,726
I told Bruce about my interest
to make a feature film
980
01:11:52,892 --> 01:11:56,229
based on his book The Viceroy of Ouidah.
981
01:11:56,396 --> 01:12:01,067
A Brazilian outlaw
steps on the shores of West Africa,
982
01:12:01,443 --> 01:12:05,613
and becomes the biggest slave
trader of his time.
983
01:12:09,909 --> 01:12:11,745
I got a call from Bruce
984
01:12:11,911 --> 01:12:14,748
a year or whatever later, and he says,
985
01:12:14,914 --> 01:12:17,000
"David Bowie wants to buy the rights."
986
01:12:17,167 --> 01:12:21,296
And I said, "My God!
No, no, no, no, no, no! Not David Bowie.
987
01:12:21,463 --> 01:12:24,215
I have to do it,"
And I immediately went into it.
988
01:12:24,382 --> 01:12:26,217
And you actually discovered,
989
01:12:26,384 --> 01:12:28,428
I see it for the first time here,
990
01:12:28,595 --> 01:12:30,847
you discovered this, my screenplay, here.
991
01:12:31,014 --> 01:12:33,683
Shakespeare: This is your screenplay
with Bruce's annotations all over it.
992
01:12:33,850 --> 01:12:35,518
Which he never sent to me.
993
01:12:35,685 --> 01:12:37,979
Never did. They've never sent it to me.
994
01:12:38,146 --> 01:12:39,647
Here, you can see there's--
995
01:12:39,814 --> 01:12:43,693
Even the names have annotations.
996
01:12:43,860 --> 01:12:46,988
Then, for example, here.
997
01:12:50,033 --> 01:12:52,452
It's full of annotations.
998
01:12:52,619 --> 01:12:55,205
Shakespeare: Do you think they--
Would they have helped?
999
01:12:55,372 --> 01:12:56,915
I do not know.
1000
01:12:57,082 --> 01:12:58,750
I have not read it. I--
1001
01:12:58,917 --> 01:13:02,295
It's the first time
I'm holding this in my life.
1002
01:13:02,462 --> 01:13:06,716
First time I have his annotations
to my screenplay.
1003
01:13:07,842 --> 01:13:09,928
[Shakespeare] I'm gonna read
what Bruce writes about you
1004
01:13:10,095 --> 01:13:13,640
when he goes out to watch you film it.
1005
01:13:13,807 --> 01:13:18,728
He describes you as a compendium
of contradictions.
1006
01:13:18,895 --> 01:13:21,523
Immensely tough, yet vulnerable.
1007
01:13:21,689 --> 01:13:25,360
Affectionate and remote,
austere and sensual.
1008
01:13:25,527 --> 01:13:28,863
Not particularly well adjusted
to the strains of everyday life,
1009
01:13:29,030 --> 01:13:30,824
but functioning efficiently
1010
01:13:30,990 --> 01:13:33,118
under extreme conditions.
1011
01:13:33,284 --> 01:13:34,994
He was also the one person
1012
01:13:35,161 --> 01:13:38,039
with whom I could have
a one-to-one conversation
1013
01:13:38,206 --> 01:13:41,918
on what I would call
"the sacramental aspect of walking."
1014
01:13:42,085 --> 01:13:44,462
It sounds like he's treating you
as a kind of brother.
1015
01:13:45,630 --> 01:13:47,882
In a way, he was, and...
1016
01:13:48,049 --> 01:13:50,552
you see he was already so ill...
1017
01:13:50,718 --> 01:13:52,429
that he couldn't travel.
1018
01:13:52,595 --> 01:13:54,389
When I invited him,
1019
01:13:54,556 --> 01:13:55,890
"No, I cannot travel."
1020
01:13:56,057 --> 01:14:00,645
And then he said, "I'm doing a little bit
better, but I need a wheelchair."
1021
01:14:01,896 --> 01:14:03,064
I wrote back to him,
1022
01:14:03,231 --> 01:14:07,610
"Bruce, a wheelchair in the terrain
we are filming in is of no help.
1023
01:14:07,777 --> 01:14:12,490
It's too rugged,
but I will give you four hammockers
1024
01:14:12,657 --> 01:14:14,075
and one shadow bearer."
1025
01:14:14,242 --> 01:14:15,952
I mean, they had these huge umbrellas.
1026
01:14:16,119 --> 01:14:18,121
The kings had them carry it,
1027
01:14:18,288 --> 01:14:21,374
and they would wobble
it around above you.
1028
01:14:21,541 --> 01:14:24,794
And that was kind of irresistible
for Bruce.
1029
01:14:24,961 --> 01:14:27,630
He came, and he was in fairly good shape.
1030
01:14:27,797 --> 01:14:29,215
And he witnessed--
1031
01:14:29,382 --> 01:14:30,550
He was actually walking.
1032
01:14:30,717 --> 01:14:32,010
Never used the hammocks.
1033
01:14:33,094 --> 01:14:38,016
He witnessed crazy moments
with 800 female warriors.
1034
01:14:38,183 --> 01:14:42,228
I mean, we had them for six weeks
in military training
1035
01:14:42,395 --> 01:14:44,731
by an Italian stunt man.
1036
01:14:44,898 --> 01:14:46,357
It was complete craze.
1037
01:14:46,524 --> 01:14:49,861
There was a moment where
these ferocious young women,
1038
01:14:50,028 --> 01:14:53,531
and they're very, very articulate
and very tough.
1039
01:14:53,698 --> 01:14:57,494
They were paid a day late,
and there was a near riot.
1040
01:14:58,161 --> 01:15:02,248
And there was
an incredible outburst by them,
1041
01:15:02,415 --> 01:15:05,084
and one of the production guys
kicked one of them.
1042
01:15:05,251 --> 01:15:07,295
And then, I mean, it went--
1043
01:15:07,462 --> 01:15:08,796
It became dangerous.
1044
01:15:08,963 --> 01:15:11,716
Out of the way! Attack! Attack!
1045
01:15:11,883 --> 01:15:17,472
Herzog: Bruce mentions the incident
in his book, What Am I Doing Here?
1046
01:15:17,639 --> 01:15:21,434
He describes me as
"A monument of sanity
1047
01:15:21,601 --> 01:15:24,771
in a cast of nervous breakdowns."
1048
01:15:25,563 --> 01:15:27,857
After I had calmed down the mayhem,
1049
01:15:28,149 --> 01:15:31,611
Bruce writes, "Werner, exhausted,
1050
01:15:31,778 --> 01:15:35,323
says to me, 'This was only an arabesque."'
1051
01:15:36,282 --> 01:15:40,370
Bruce describes Klaus Kinski
as a kind of adolescent
1052
01:15:40,537 --> 01:15:41,955
with long, white hair.
1053
01:15:42,121 --> 01:15:43,456
And often, after Bruce died,
1054
01:15:43,623 --> 01:15:46,251
we would think that
what would he be like had he lived?
1055
01:15:46,417 --> 01:15:49,379
And this image of Klaus Kinski
in Cobra Verde came to mind.
1056
01:15:49,546 --> 01:15:51,130
That he would be a bit like that.
1057
01:15:51,464 --> 01:15:54,008
No! Don't let him get away!
1058
01:15:54,175 --> 01:15:57,679
- Stop him! Hold him!
- Stay back! Stay back!
1059
01:15:57,845 --> 01:15:59,847
His wife will strangle him now. Stay back.
1060
01:16:07,188 --> 01:16:09,524
Herzog: Well, Kinski was
particularly difficult.
1061
01:16:09,691 --> 01:16:14,654
it was our last film where Kinski
was pretty much out of control...
1062
01:16:15,446 --> 01:16:19,158
and wouldn't do certain things
and be violent.
1063
01:16:19,325 --> 01:16:23,079
I mean, there was physical violence also,
which is impermissible.
1064
01:16:23,246 --> 01:16:24,789
Not on my set.
1065
01:16:24,956 --> 01:16:27,083
And Bruce witnessed some of it.
1066
01:16:27,250 --> 01:16:32,297
Not all, because he stayed
for only two, three weeks or so.
1067
01:16:33,131 --> 01:16:36,050
I think he was in awe.
1068
01:16:36,217 --> 01:16:38,303
He was awestruck
1069
01:16:38,469 --> 01:16:42,348
of raw power of emotion
1070
01:16:42,515 --> 01:16:44,350
and vileness
1071
01:16:44,517 --> 01:16:47,562
and... a character
1072
01:16:47,729 --> 01:16:51,482
that... only exists in-- in novels.
1073
01:16:52,650 --> 01:16:56,237
And, of course,
he was absolutely delighted
1074
01:16:56,404 --> 01:17:00,033
that I engaged a real king.
1075
01:17:00,867 --> 01:17:02,744
The King of Nsein,
1076
01:17:02,910 --> 01:17:06,289
with his entire 450 people entourage,
1077
01:17:06,456 --> 01:17:10,335
his sedan bearers and his shadow bearers,
1078
01:17:10,501 --> 01:17:13,171
and they would drum and shake in with him
1079
01:17:13,338 --> 01:17:15,131
in this wonderful--
1080
01:17:15,298 --> 01:17:19,844
And Bruce said, "I-- That's what
I had hoped to see once in my life."
1081
01:17:20,011 --> 01:17:23,264
I said, "You made it,
and it's gonna be in the film.
1082
01:17:23,431 --> 01:17:25,475
This is gonna be in the film."
1083
01:17:25,975 --> 01:17:28,019
(tribal music plays)
1084
01:17:47,705 --> 01:17:49,707
There was another king,
1085
01:17:49,874 --> 01:17:52,126
a minor king of Elmina,
1086
01:17:52,293 --> 01:17:54,379
and he was curious about reading
1087
01:17:54,545 --> 01:17:57,882
Bruce's book, The Viceroy of Ouidah.
1088
01:17:58,049 --> 01:17:59,884
So, Bruce gave it to him.
1089
01:18:00,051 --> 01:18:02,470
And after three days, the king,
1090
01:18:02,637 --> 01:18:04,847
the other king, came back to him and...
1091
01:18:05,014 --> 01:18:06,891
(gun shots)
1092
01:18:07,058 --> 01:18:09,018
(tribal music plays)
1093
01:18:20,571 --> 01:18:25,243
He was somehow
moving his head left, right and so,
1094
01:18:25,410 --> 01:18:27,328
and looked at him and,
1095
01:18:27,495 --> 01:18:30,832
and Bruce said "Well, then?"
1096
01:18:31,916 --> 01:18:33,835
And the king looked at him
1097
01:18:34,001 --> 01:18:39,090
and he said, "Mr. Chatwin,
you wrote a roundabout book."
1098
01:18:40,717 --> 01:18:41,759
That was all he said,
1099
01:18:41,926 --> 01:18:44,887
and Bruce was completely
and utterly delighted.
1100
01:18:46,222 --> 01:18:48,933
Bruce was very ill when he was in Ghana,
1101
01:18:49,100 --> 01:18:54,063
but walking and-- and enjoying himself.
1102
01:18:54,230 --> 01:18:55,440
And only later
1103
01:18:55,606 --> 01:18:59,485
he really lapsed into the final stage
1104
01:18:59,652 --> 01:19:00,987
of his illness.
1105
01:19:03,364 --> 01:19:04,490
And he was already--
1106
01:19:04,657 --> 01:19:07,952
I think when I did Lohengrin,
1107
01:19:08,119 --> 01:19:11,247
he was still in very good shape.
1108
01:19:11,414 --> 01:19:14,667
With his wife he arrived in Bayreuth,
1109
01:19:14,834 --> 01:19:17,503
where I had staged Lohengrin.
1110
01:19:18,129 --> 01:19:20,631
He was very good looking.
1111
01:19:20,798 --> 01:19:24,135
There's no doubt,
and some women in New York
1112
01:19:24,302 --> 01:19:28,264
who describe him as
"alarmingly handsome,"
1113
01:19:28,431 --> 01:19:30,600
Alarmingly handsome.
1114
01:19:30,767 --> 01:19:33,978
And, of course, for both sexes,
1115
01:19:34,145 --> 01:19:36,689
men and women fell for him.
1116
01:19:37,815 --> 01:19:41,527
I personally, and he says it,
I was close and remote.
1117
01:19:41,694 --> 01:19:43,571
I always kept a certain distance.
1118
01:19:43,738 --> 01:19:46,115
We were very comfortable with that.
1119
01:19:46,282 --> 01:19:49,118
I remember one woman,
who he had a brief liaison with.
1120
01:19:49,285 --> 01:19:52,371
She said,
"He was out to seduce everything.
1121
01:19:52,538 --> 01:19:54,582
It didn't matter
whether you were a man, a woman,
1122
01:19:54,749 --> 01:19:56,751
an ocelot or a tea cozy.
1123
01:19:56,918 --> 01:19:58,711
He wanted to seduce."
1124
01:19:59,545 --> 01:20:02,089
I do not care whether somebody
1125
01:20:02,256 --> 01:20:06,010
is bisexual or homosexual
or whatever.
1126
01:20:06,177 --> 01:20:10,223
It's completely of no consequence for me.
1127
01:20:10,389 --> 01:20:11,599
Bruce is Bruce.
1128
01:20:20,316 --> 01:20:22,276
Herzog: How complicated was it for you
1129
01:20:22,443 --> 01:20:25,404
to know that he had relationship with men?
1130
01:20:26,572 --> 01:20:28,574
Not complicated.
It wasn't a problem.
1131
01:20:29,659 --> 01:20:32,578
I mean, you know,
because it didn't actually
1132
01:20:32,745 --> 01:20:36,749
impinge on our relationship.
1133
01:20:37,542 --> 01:20:39,961
I mean, I didn't-- I really didn't care.
1134
01:20:41,045 --> 01:20:45,132
Then he sometimes,
he brought them to-- for the weekend
1135
01:20:45,299 --> 01:20:47,468
or something like that,
and they were charming.
1136
01:20:48,636 --> 01:20:50,888
So, uh...
1137
01:20:51,055 --> 01:20:54,517
I wouldn't dream of divorcing him.
1138
01:20:54,684 --> 01:20:56,602
I mean, there was no question about that.
1139
01:20:58,813 --> 01:21:00,773
(music plays)
1140
01:21:06,904 --> 01:21:10,241
Herzog: It was still
in the early days of AlDS
1141
01:21:10,408 --> 01:21:14,537
when Bruce Chatwin
contracted the virus.
1142
01:21:14,704 --> 01:21:15,913
At that time,
1143
01:21:16,080 --> 01:21:18,624
wider awareness of the dangers
1144
01:21:18,791 --> 01:21:21,460
had just started to spread.
1145
01:21:27,008 --> 01:21:30,678
He made a pilgrimage
to the monks of Mount Athos
1146
01:21:30,845 --> 01:21:34,348
and converted to the Greek Orthodox faith.
1147
01:21:36,392 --> 01:21:37,935
His ashes are buried
1148
01:21:38,102 --> 01:21:40,354
next to an Orthodox chapel
1149
01:21:40,521 --> 01:21:44,609
on a promontory
overlooking the Aegean Sea.
1150
01:21:52,074 --> 01:21:54,243
(music plays)
1151
01:22:14,055 --> 01:22:15,306
I remember this place.
1152
01:22:15,473 --> 01:22:20,144
We used to sit here,
and look out at the garden.
1153
01:22:21,646 --> 01:22:23,564
So this was a, you know,
1154
01:22:23,731 --> 01:22:26,609
a very happy place to come to.
1155
01:22:30,112 --> 01:22:32,990
It's very sad that Bruce isn't here.
1156
01:22:41,582 --> 01:22:46,712
Herzog: This is, apparently,
the very last lines he ever wrote.
1157
01:22:48,673 --> 01:22:52,134
"Christ wore a seamless robe."
1158
01:22:52,301 --> 01:22:54,887
- "Christ wore a seamless robe."
- "A seamless robe."
1159
01:22:56,097 --> 01:22:58,808
- End of story.
- End of the story.
1160
01:22:58,975 --> 01:23:01,602
Never anything ever written again.
1161
01:23:01,769 --> 01:23:04,480
I mean, he dictated to Elizabeth,
1162
01:23:04,647 --> 01:23:09,610
but that's the last, last, last piece
of handwriting we have.
1163
01:23:13,072 --> 01:23:13,906
Okay.
1164
01:23:18,411 --> 01:23:20,121
The book is closed.
1165
01:23:24,583 --> 01:23:27,545
(music plays)
1166
01:23:30,131 --> 01:23:33,801
While researching
The Songlines in Australia,
1167
01:23:33,968 --> 01:23:37,596
Bruce already knew he was terminally ill.
1168
01:23:39,765 --> 01:23:41,809
The final pages of his book
1169
01:23:41,976 --> 01:23:46,022
carry the mood of a journey
coming to an end.
1170
01:23:49,525 --> 01:23:51,902
He talks about the... the idea
1171
01:23:52,069 --> 01:23:54,530
that when close to death,
1172
01:23:54,697 --> 01:23:56,615
some aboriginal people take a long journey
1173
01:23:56,782 --> 01:23:59,076
back to the place of their conception.
1174
01:23:59,243 --> 01:24:03,164
And... that this-- this for me
1175
01:24:03,330 --> 01:24:05,499
was the central message
1176
01:24:05,666 --> 01:24:07,084
from-- from The Songlines.
1177
01:24:07,251 --> 01:24:11,213
And I think it was a message
that held a lot of value
1178
01:24:11,380 --> 01:24:12,840
for Bruce at that point.
1179
01:24:13,007 --> 01:24:15,051
I think he was looking for a way to die.
1180
01:24:15,217 --> 01:24:17,636
Which is what I argue
in the book, I guess.
1181
01:24:17,803 --> 01:24:22,475
Is that like Sartre looked--
was looking for a right way to live,
1182
01:24:22,641 --> 01:24:24,393
Chatwin was looking for
a right way to die.
1183
01:24:24,560 --> 01:24:28,189
And-- and I think something
about this scene,
1184
01:24:28,355 --> 01:24:30,441
spoke to him in that-- in that way.
1185
01:24:30,608 --> 01:24:32,610
Otherwise he wouldn't have
ended the book like that.
1186
01:24:34,528 --> 01:24:39,700
Herzog: It looks a little bit as if
Bruce was describing the death.
1187
01:24:39,867 --> 01:24:44,080
The right death that he, himself,
would like to die.
1188
01:24:45,790 --> 01:24:49,502
Can you read the last passage
of the book first, please?
1189
01:24:49,668 --> 01:24:51,462
Yes, and I agree with you.
1190
01:24:51,629 --> 01:24:55,216
I think this is about
Bruce and his death, yeah.
1191
01:24:56,008 --> 01:24:57,885
"As I wrote in my notebooks,
1192
01:24:58,052 --> 01:25:00,137
the mystics believe the ideal man
1193
01:25:00,304 --> 01:25:03,140
shall walk himself to a right death.
1194
01:25:03,891 --> 01:25:06,393
He who has arrived, goes back.
1195
01:25:06,560 --> 01:25:11,023
In aboriginal Australia,
there are specific rules for going back,
1196
01:25:11,190 --> 01:25:14,485
or rather for singing your way
to where you belong,
1197
01:25:14,652 --> 01:25:16,570
to your conception site.
1198
01:25:16,737 --> 01:25:20,533
Only then can you become,
or re-become, the ancestor.
1199
01:25:21,283 --> 01:25:25,663
The concept is quite similar
to Heraclitus' mysterious dictum,
1200
01:25:25,830 --> 01:25:28,582
'Mortals and immortals,
alive in their death,
1201
01:25:28,749 --> 01:25:30,417
dead in each other's life'.
1202
01:25:32,586 --> 01:25:34,004
Limpy hobbled ahead.
1203
01:25:34,171 --> 01:25:36,340
We followed on tiptoe.
1204
01:25:36,507 --> 01:25:38,259
The sky was incandescent,
1205
01:25:38,425 --> 01:25:41,137
and sharp shadows fell across the path.
1206
01:25:41,762 --> 01:25:44,223
A trickle of water
dribbled down the cliff.
1207
01:25:45,266 --> 01:25:47,726
In a clearing,
there were three hospital bedsteads
1208
01:25:47,893 --> 01:25:50,396
with mesh springs and no mattresses.
1209
01:25:50,563 --> 01:25:53,023
And on them, lay the three dying men.
1210
01:25:53,607 --> 01:25:55,359
They were almost skeletons.
1211
01:25:55,526 --> 01:25:57,987
Their beards and hair had gone.
1212
01:25:58,154 --> 01:26:00,156
One was strong enough to lift an arm.
1213
01:26:00,322 --> 01:26:02,324
Another, to say something.
1214
01:26:02,491 --> 01:26:03,868
When they heard who Limpy was,
1215
01:26:04,034 --> 01:26:06,704
all three smiled spontaneously,
1216
01:26:06,871 --> 01:26:08,581
the same grin.
1217
01:26:08,747 --> 01:26:11,375
Arkady folded his arms and watched.
1218
01:26:11,876 --> 01:26:14,044
'Aren't they wonderful?' Marian whispered,
1219
01:26:14,211 --> 01:26:16,797
putting her hand in mine
and giving it a squeeze.
1220
01:26:16,964 --> 01:26:18,674
'Yes, they were all right.
1221
01:26:18,841 --> 01:26:20,134
They knew where they were going.
1222
01:26:20,301 --> 01:26:23,137
Smiling at death
in the shade of a ghost-gum."'
1223
01:26:25,598 --> 01:26:27,558
(birds chirp)
1224
01:26:29,602 --> 01:26:31,562
(music plays)
1225
01:26:35,316 --> 01:26:37,276
(harmonizing)
1226
01:28:10,995 --> 01:28:13,789
(music continues)
1227
01:29:11,221 --> 01:29:12,890
(music fades)