Love him or dismiss him, Werner Herzog has been an ever-curious, quirky, and contrarian documentarian, pursuing a crazed array of subjects, from the internet to the death penalty to the creative detour of Grizzly Man. With Meeting Gorbachev, directed by Herzog with André Singer and written by (and co-starring) Herzog, the German director delivers one of the straightest and most respectful docs to date, painting a fascinating portrait of the leader deemed “a good Soviet.”
Over three recent interviews with the wise former USSR leader, whose temperate and cooperative nature led to strides in nuclear disarmament and the dismantling of the Iron Curtain, and smartly-woven tapestry of historical footage, Herzog has made a humane and important historical film — with only tiny touches of his usual ironic mischief. Without naming names on the current global political landscape, the specters of Trump and Putin are touched on when Gorbachev comments that “cold war cannot be a form of international relations. People who don’t understand the importance of cooperation and disarmament should quit politics….But they are very much there.”