The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent but underrated film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is about Walter Steiner, a Swiss ski jumper whose specialization is ski flying--the longest of all the ski jumping events. Back in the 1970s, he was a major star--with an Olympic silver medal and two world championships.Werner Herzog and his crew traveled to three different places to make this 45 minute documentary--two in Germany and the big event in Yugoslavia. It's interesting that Steiner ended up winning the event and setting a world record here--as other athletes COULD have won. For example, it's pretty easy to get knocked out of the contest due to injury (and Steiner does take a pretty nasty fall in this one)--and the film would have ended up focusing on a good ski flyer who lost! But, in the end, Steiner pulls it off and wins by a very comfortable margin.The film is very interesting to see because of the nice camera-work. Even when seen today, you marvel at some of the slow-motion closeup shots. How did they get these shots so well considering that Steiner is flying very high and very fast. It is interesting that Steiner's world record of 166 meters is actually WAY less than the record today--which stands at 246.5 meters! Worth seeing and well made.

It is necessary a great filmmaker to transform a simple sport in something interesting and fascinating.This 45 minutes documentary show us that it is possible!. HERZOG acts as a witness leaving STEINER do the entire work becoming a bird and talking freely about his fears. One the most amazing moments is when STEINER tell us a certain story that happened when he was a child,pure poetry in complete resonance with the film as a whole. In other moments ,the camera captures in a thrilling way all the danger involved in ski-jumping. STEINER made a small appearance in other HERZOG'S masterpiece, KASPAR HAUSER. Where is STEINER now?. I have read in internet that he lives in a small village in Sweden and works as a Gardener.

Ecstasy is an interesting short documentary about champion ski jumper Walter Steiner made by Werner Herzog. In 45 minutes Herzog manages to reveal more about the feelings of the competitor and a sport than most documentaries twice its length do. Herzog's cameras capture both the grace and gruesomeness of the jump as Steiner meets with failure and success. Steiner is quite candid in assessing himself, revealing insecurities and doubts. Herzog's cameras much of the time seem to be in the right place at the right time without being intrusive. He does however belabor the point with repetitive slow mo wrecks of the earth bound skiers. Decades later this compact and uniquely informative sports documentary can hold its own with any made since then.

A very moving portrait of a simple Swiss woodcarver who becomes the world's best ski jumper. The man's life, his motivation, his fears, his hopes: all beautifully relayed in this early masterpiece by Werner Herzog. Here we find a great tribute to Swiss honesty and depth. I know Swiss people who think and feel like Walter Steiner. And then there's that unforgettable story in which Walter Steiner compares himself with a bird he had saved and raised in his youth, a bird he ultimately had to kill to save it from pain and the cruelty of its companions. Only Herzog can give us meditations of that kind. What is Walter Steiner doing these days?