Review of Herdsmen of the Sun

"Wodaabe - Die Hirten der Sonne. Nomaden am Südrand der Sahara" or "Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun" is a documentary movie from 1989, so this one has its 30th anniversary soon. The writer and director is Werner Herzog, which is why this film caught my attention. I am a great fan of the Munich-born man who is originally caught Werner Stipetic. The documentary runs for under 50 minutes, which is not uncommon at all for Herzog. He made many films that easily stayed under the 60-minute mark during his long career, especially many of his documentaries. The title here already tells us what this one is about, namely the Wodaabe. Now I will admit that I don't think I have ever heard that name before, but that is not a problem at all as Herzog patiently depicts us who they are. The Wodaabe are a tribe of African natives who lives in the Sahara/Sahel region. If you have not heard of them before just like me, you can maybe compare them to the Massai, but I am sure there are many many difference between the two tribes, so don't be too focused on them being similar. This is just a very general description, so that you can somewhat imagine what this documentary is about. I will not go any further into detail about how they live or what these beauty contests are about that they hold on a regular basis as you can check out the film for yourself. And should! This is another convincing work by Herzog, even if it is probably not seen by as many as some of his more known projects.. But it definitely is not any worse. I just wish we had a chance to listen to Herzog's great narration on more occasions as his voice is pretty scarce in this one sadly. But that's just a minor subjective criticism. I certainly recommend the watch here.