Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.
Herzog's documentary is a singular, deeply humane meditation on capital punishment, mortality, and the cycle of violence. His characteristically oblique interviewing style — asking a prison chaplain about a squirrel encounter, finding existential meaning in mundane detail — gives the film a one-of-a-kind voice entirely unlike standard crime docs. The ending, following an execution timeline and its aftermath, lands with quiet devastation. Cinematography is competent but functional rather than visually ambitious. 'Acting' in a documentary context reflects subject authenticity — the subjects are genuine and compelling, though Herzog's structure does the heavy lifting. Plot as narrative is loose by design, more meditation than story. Overall reputation as a serious, haunting work is well deserved.