Another documentary on Apple TV, shamefully this is the first Werner Herzog documentary that I've seen. If they're all as enjoyable as this one, I'll start hunting down a few more.
The Documentary sees Herzog and his scientific collaborator Clive Oppenheimer travel the world looking at the impact, physically, culturally and spiritually, that Meteors and Comets have had on the Earth. From scientific studies, both low and high tech, to the effect that Meteors have had on the storytelling of remote Pacific tribes, they explore with a sense of wonder and with Herzog's deadpan delivery of the voiceovers.
As Documentaries go, "Fireball" takes rather a scattershot approach to investigating all the ways that Meteorites and Asteroids have affected our planet, it's never less than beautiful though - as our heroes circumnavigate the globe meeting scientists, theologians and tribesman to hear stories, theories and facts about the subject. We see a wide range of vistas and landscapes all wonderfully caught on camera and occasionally with the excellent use of a drone.
A little of the documentaries style takes some getting used to. Herzog likes to hold uncomfortably long shots on the interview subjects, whilst he explains in voice over who they are and why they went to see them. Oppenheimer actually conducts most of the interviews, in a light chatty fashion which I think helps to put a few of the more awkward subjects at ease, there's also a lovely moment towards the end when he finds a large Meteorite in the polar icecaps. Herzog's Bavarian brogue takes a little getting used to, but once I was, I really loved it and he's really very funny, with odd little asides and descriptions of the action that genuinely made me laugh out loud a few times.
It's not quite as deep in some areas as I might have liked, but it's as enthusiastic and enamoured with its subject as any documentary I've seen in a long time.
