Werner Herzog’s ‘The Wild Blue Yonder’ opens in the UK

By Ray Bennett

Werner Herzog’s rhapsodic documentary “The Wild Blue Yonder,” which just opened at London’s ICA and in other key U.K. cities, is a hugely entertaining exploration of inner and outer space.

A breathtaking musical score by Dutch composer and cellist Ernst Reijseger enhances the picture’s remarkable images from NASA and deep-sea exploration. In my review from Venice in 2005, where it won the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize, I said “the soundtrack is destined for greater things.”

But the score from a documentary was never going to break through to the major awards. The soundtrack, which features the voice of Senegalese soloist Mola Sylla and a five-man Sardinian shepherd choir, the Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei, is available on an album titled “Requiem for a Dying Planet” from Allegro Music.

The disc also features Reijseger’s score to Herzog’s 2004 rainforest documentary “The White Diamond.”

Read my review of “Wild Blue Yonder” and here’s a link to more about Werner Herzog and this film and the album.