CAUTION - NOT FOR EVERYONE'S TASTE! "MY SON, MY SON WHAT HAVE YE DONE?"

Ok, let me come clean, I am not all that familiar with the works of Werner Herzog. I saw one film of his – Rescue Dawn and“Grizzly Man”, a documentary on the life of grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell. This was an excellent and fascinating documentary, and all this gave me very little to go on as far as Mr. Herzog artistically is concerned. I heard that he is into “dark” films and that he is a director you either love or hate. You may have guessed by now that I was full of curiosity and enthusiasm when I read this. And that I was TRULY excited to get my grubby paws on “My Son, My Son What have ye done”. Not only did I love it (even though I was half asleep when I started watching I woke up pretty fast!) it also qualifies as the “true story” of the week (Ok, I haven’t actually been keeping tabs but they do pop up quite often). So here we are.
Now, this is based on a true crime. A young man from San Diego who was “heavily” influenced by his part as Orestus in a play murdered his mother with a sword. This is the basic story of the film. This young man (Brad) then proceeds to barricade himself into his house, claiming he has two hostages with him and demanding things such as pizza and a getaway car. We watch the proceedings and listen to the police interviewing the young man’s loved ones who try to explain how things got to this point and how, well, ever since he came back from Peru he was… Different…
I honestly don’t know how much of the rest of the film is based on actual fact. The story the film tells however, is hilarious in a very dark way, if you like that kind of thing. Brad is, from the start, a psychologically underdeveloped young man whose relationship with his mother is complicated enough within itself without the added influence of Orestus. There is then the addition of his fiancé Ingrid who is understandably baffled by the same relationship, and as time goes by, their own. Plus there is the events of Peru of course, the real place the whole thing begins. Then there are the flamingos. And God, who has taken up residence in Brad’s mother’s kitchen. When you add a samurai sword and a Greek chorus to all this, tell me honestly, how can a person not be driven to murder? And how can two cops or even a whole swat team make head or tail of it?
It sounds like absurd comedy right ? No. Dead pan. And not “in your face” either, there are so many minute details and hilarious characters, I agree with other comments I have heard / seen that it warrants a second viewing at least. I have discovered, I feel, “something” (albeit rather dark) in Werner Herzog’s style and look forward to exploring it further. Stay tuned to hear my progress ;)