'Nomad: In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin' A Review

Nomad: In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is a documentary by Werner Herzog about the life and adventures of British travel writer Bruce Chatwin. Told through talking head interviews but mostly through retracing Chatwin's various travels paired with Herzog's unmistakable narration the film investigates the life of a man and humanity as a whole.

Any Herzog film is a gift, his unique perspective and insight always on display and injected by his poetic and stark narration. The sweeping drone footage and creeping camera footage are beautiful and Herzog maintains an uncanny ability to have deliciously bizarre and fruitful interviews. But his documentaries are sometimes limited by their subject and with Chatwin who passed away in 1989 there isn't a lot of footage or audio recordings of the man nor is there many people interviewed who knew him first hand. As a result the journey Herzog stitches together is rather opaque, there is some fascinating scenes, themes, and ideas that are drawn out but taken together it feels somewhat incomplete or too sprawling in scope.

Herzog's best documentary work has a narrow focus(like Grizzly Man and Into The Abyss) but this like some of his broader work(Encounters At The End Of The World and Reveries Of A Connected World) still has a lot to offer visually, intellectually, and spiritually.

Available to rent as part of the Music Box Theatre's virtual cinema here.

Rent It.