

User Score
6 votes
Jag Mandir is a quiet and often overlooked film in the vast oeuvre of Werner Herzog. Apparently, 20 hours of footage was shot that covered the whole fest and the film hardly presents us a twentieth of that. A native walking into the film in between may well fail to immediately realize that it is his country that is being shown and these are figures from the mythology of various sections of his nation. The bulk of the film consists of footage of an elaborate theatrical performance for the Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar at the City Palace of Udaipur, Rajasthan staged by André Heller.
Director
Screenplay
Status
Released
Original Language
DE

A, an American film director of Greek ancestry, is making a film that tells his story and the story of his parents. It is a tale that unfolds in Italy, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada and the USA. The main character is Eleni, who is claimed and claims the absoluteness of love. At the same time the film is a long journey into the vast history and the events of the last fifty years that left their mark on the 20th century. The characters in the film move as though in a dream. The dust of time confuses memories. A searches for them and experiences them in the present.

The year is 1732. John Wesley, an irritatingly self-righteous instructor at Oxford is offered the chance to go to the new colony of Georgia, where he hopes to preach to the Indians. John struggles with his failure and fears and is finally experiences the peace he longed for: "I felt my heart strangely warmed." Wesley begins to preach about his experience of saving faith, but is turned out of most churches in London. Despite opposition, mob violence that seeks to break up their meetings, Wesley and his "Methodies" establish social ministries to the poor that transformed the face of England. Today, almost 75 million people worldwide trace their spiritual heritage back to John Wesley.