Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply A Masterpiece

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

With Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, director Werner Herzog continues his investigations into the nature of man and our influence on the planet. Having spent most of his earlier career exploring the nature of madness and the limits of the human mind with feature films often starring Klaus Kinski, Herzog's career of late has seen him focus primarily on documentaries, and there is perhaps no other filmmaker more naturally suited to the genre. Lo and Behold tells the story of the internet, from its humble birth in a seemingly forgotten office at UCLA, to its recent explosion and rapidly widespread use throughout the world, and Herzog tackles the subject with both excited fascination and trepidation.Herzog, as usual, plays the role of the viewer, actively participating in conversation with his interviewees. He often interrupts to confirm his understanding, or to offer his own unique philosophical musings. This may come across as distracting to anyone less than familiar with the filmmaker's output, but for us Herzog loyalists, his willingness to vocalise his own feelings or provide idiosyncratic observations throughout the documentary is precisely what makes his films such a joy. His subjects appear to instantly warm to him too, allowing them to relax and open up more, with the helmer only too happy to try and catch them off guard if they veer away from the subject. As one interviewee (who is in an internet rehab facility to cure his addiction to gaming and porn) gleefully bounds across a rickety wooden bridge to greet the camera, Herzog chuckles to himself and states that no further introduction is necessary.Although the documentary does occasionally ramble, Herzog doesn't allow his own personality to eclipse the subject at hand. He concerns himself with society's increasing detachment from one another as we spend more time in front of a computer screen, and ponders whether or not the internet can dream of itself (some of the reactions to this question are priceless). The film also explores the dark side of the net, telling the story of Nikki Catsouras, the young and beautiful girl who was killed in a horrific car accident, only for pictures of her mangled body to surface on the internet. Nikki's father soon started to receive e-mails with the pictures attached, complete with mocking messages that will make your blood boil. Lo and Behold depicts our brave new world as simultaneously exciting, beautiful and utterly terrifying, reaching as far as exploring our inevitable migration into space. It offers insight into everything from robot development, internet usage and dreams, allowing Herzog to further continue his almost alien fascination with both the beauty and horror of humanity.

Provocative. Terrifying. Quirkily informative. Engrossing. As always, Herzog poses questions that draw revealing responses from his interviewees—collectively a fascinating bunch of hackers sace and its distribution via networks; how it got started, where it is today, where it's going. He delves into the darkest aspects of the Internet looking at lives disconnected from nature and ruined by web addiction. Herzog also explores the immense benign and even, perhaps, spiritual possibilities of a connected globe while schooling us on the digital underpinnings we take for granted. The way the internet balances its data-flow load, for example is instructive. We learn, counter-intuitively, the larger such networks grow, the more efficient they become. Or consider that one good-sized solar flare—an event scientists deem a certainty every few hundred years—could fatally disrupt modern civilization. This is at once an inspiring and scary film. But there are moments of lightness too. A radio telescope specialist plays banjo in a bluegrass band. We learn the "Lo" of the title derives from the first word ever sent via modem —"Log." But it crashed the receiving computer after the first two letters. The ingenuity of humankind juxtaposed with humans' tendency to foul our nest has not been looked at with an eye as steely as that of Werner Herzog's. Like all the best docs, the ideas that enrich Lo and Behold will likely boil up in your consciousness many times in the days that follow your viewing.

My relation with German director Werner Herzog and his films is dating back about four decades. Sometime in the 70s I attended a 'festival of West German film' which I do not know how escaped the censorship filters in my native Romania. That week I saw several of the films of filmmakers in the generation representing the 'New German Film "which became one of the most interesting trends of the 70s in international cinema. Of all movies the strongest impression made to me 'Aguirre, the Wrath of Gods' - a historical drama set in the period of the 'Conquista' - the Spanish colonization of South America - starring Klaus Kinski, an extraordinary actor. The name the movie director was Werner Herzog was.The career of the film-maker which once was called by Francois Truffaut "the most important film director alive" has had many ups and downs. Part of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's generation, together with Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff and Wim Wenders his interests and artistic endeavors diversified after the 80s. Documentaries seems to be the area that gave the most rewards and enjoyed appreciation lately. His most recent film in this category 'Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World' is the history, present and future of the Internet. A subject that of course intrigued me allowing a unique encounter between my passion for cinema and one of the most interesting filmmakers of the movie industry, and my profession (and life passion) - the Internet.The ten episodes of the film treat in somewhat chronological order the beginnings of the Internet, its achievements and problems, and its future with opportunities and risks. The first short episode aroused interest and created nostalgia of those who lived the era of the beginnings of communications between computers, or - like me - had the opportunity to personally meet some of the heroes of those times. Leonard Kleinrock is one of those who attended the first attempt to establish communication between computers located in the Californian universities in Los Angeles and Stanford. The electrical cabinet (actually a computer with a tiny computing power compared to any mobile phone today, but a peak of technology in the late 60s) that initiated the communication in the episode described in the film was trying to send word 'log' (to login) to the remote machine. However, the first message ever sent over the Internet encountered first 'bug' on the Internet, and caused the first 'crash', so that the third letter of the word, a 'g' never appeared on the other side. It's just that 'lo' from the beginning of the movie title that offers the chance of a play of words in English using the expression 'lo and behold' which means surprise event that we might call in today's hi-tech language as 'disrupting '.Each of the other nine segments addresses from different perspectives the relationship between information technology and communications in the world we live today or or the world of the future. There are for example segments about artificial intelligence and its applications in intelligent transports, the Web's beginnings and development prospects of hypertext communications, about Internet safety and the unbearable easy security attacks, about the connection between electronic games and smart development programs. Several other topics were abandoned during production, for example those related to electronic payments and currency Bitcoin, although someday footage may appear and be made public. Known personalities including Bob Kahn, Elon Musk and Tim Berners-Lee appear in the film. Some episodes are more pessimistic and discuss the dangers and threats introduced by the Internet - impressive being the one about the family photos decrying the child died in an accident traffic incident are made public with a typical lack of discretion and sensitivity in communications unfortunately so prevalent on the Internet. Not all episodes are directly related to the Internet - for example the phenomenon of sensitivity to electromagnetic waves is known, studied and treated in different ways (the one shown in the movie is just one option) but it is not directly linked to the global network but rather to radio communications . We meet on this occasion with one of those folks belonging to an anarchist community that tries to live in social islands unconnected to the global network. The interviewing techniques used by Werner Herzog mostly include asking from off (we never see his face face) questions with German calm and precision (underlined by his accent), but he obviously guided interlocutors and created the glue and thread of reasoning developed in the film.Werner Herzog's interest in the Internet and technology is recent. Until a few years ago, Herzog could be considered a 'techno-skeptic' and its attitude toward certain Internet applications such as social media was clearly negative. Things have changed by the time he approached the project but the humanistic view of his questions are trenchant and come from unexpected directions, with a dose of caution and even pessimism about the interaction between human nature and technology These remain the traits that distinguish this film which is addressing in a different way than we are accustomed the Internet and mass communications.Addressing the theme of 'Dreams' and showing the combination of Internet and artificial intelligence as one of the directions the most promising technology, but also of the most intriguing and perhaps even dangerous of the possible routes in the future, Herzog places himself in the vanguard technology.Will the Internet become (together with entities equipped with artificial intelligence) completely autonomous? And after this happens - the problem only when - what will be the difference between the perfect thinking machines and the imperfect individuals that make up mankind? The ability to dream? Love? Can robots dream or fall in love? What about the Internet?

Let's put it this way, I NEVER write reviews about movies/films I watch. However, I had no other choice but to get on here and compliment how amazing this documentary is. I was really depressed yesterday throughout my entire day at work, and just couldn't shake the feeling until I randomly found this on Netflix and decided to watch it. I only turned it on because I needed something to watch for the 10 minutes or so of eating dinner. I ended up watching the entire documentary (about 1.5 hours long) and was left in complete awe. Not only that, I couldn't even get back on my PS4 or play any video games for the rest of the night because of this film. It truly makes you think about things that you've probably never thought about before. I've watched hundreds of documentaries over the years and this is by far the most fascinating documentary I have ever watched. I recommend this film for the ENTIRE WORLD!You won't be disappointed.