Cobra Verde
- Klaus Kinski: Francisco Manoel da Silva
- King Ampaw: Taparica
- Salvatore Basile: Captain Fraternidade
- José Lewgoy: Don Octavio Coutinho
Cobra Verde is the title of a German feature film. It is the fifth and final collaboration between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski.
Content
Basis of the film is the book The Viceroy of Ouidah of the writer Bruce Chatwin, who in turn was inspired by a trip report from the 19th century. A desperado named Da Silva in Brazil is a feared bandit Cobra Verde which is generally called. His defining, respect -inspiring behavior falls on a sugar baron, who appointed him overseer of his plantation slaves. After Da Silva has knocked up his three teenage daughters, he is sent on a journey to Africa, where he is to exchange new slaves. This trip from which the rioters not to return is, however, by self-confident appearance to impress a success because it Da Silva manages the local authorities and embark slaves for its clients to Brazil.
However, it leaves the mad king of Dahomey, now Benin, shortly thereafter kidnap to his court, where he is involved in a revolt of a part of the court against the despots and helps as the leader of an Amazon army to conquer the throne. In gratitude for his help Silva was appointed Viceroy Da. But shortly after the slave trade from the mother country Brazil is definitively discontinued, the new king has no benefit more from him and drive him from his home. Da Silva finally dies, completely deserted and finally failed, while attempting to escape with the help of a dugout canoe from the African continent in the middle of nowhere.
Differences from the original novel
Werner Herzog makes his movie only begin with the third chapter of the novel. The Portrait of Francisco Manoel da Silva's offspring in Benin is omitted. Instead, the lonely migrant workers Da Silva missed a bandit image. The Barefoot Bandit Cobra Verde is in Bruce Chatwin's novel but a fleeting, anonymous guest, with the Da Silva shares his meat. Duke merges both personalities into one, in order to later have an excuse Da Silva to send for Dahomey into exile. The figure of the business partner Joaquim Coutinho is not present in the film. He is the son of the indebted and dependent Colonel Octavio Coutinho and the guarantor for Da Silvas phased prosperity in Dahomey, the Werner Herzog could not show on the grounds of too tight production budgets for better or wanted. Da Silva ekes out a miserable existence in the film. The plot actually extends over several decades, and he always wears the same uniform.
Background
The film polarized both the opinions of film critics and the audience, where he usually received rather poor reviews among the former. However, it should be noted that this criticism often than directed more against the person Kinski against the film. The trashing of the critic Hellmuth Karasek in issue 49/1987 of the mirror was the main cause of the rather negative review of the film. The choice of words Karasek's ( " a dirty piece of male fantasy, a rickety supremacism, ridden on the mare Kinski " ) but rather reflects a deep dislike of the person Klaus Kinski as a factual discussion of the film.
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt designated in his criticism in issue 01 /1988 of the journal specifically the movie as a connection to the past, namely to Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.
The film is, as Werner Herzog himself says, " not politically correct ", but shows an otherwise usually not treated in films aspect of slavery, namely that it was black rulers in Africa who sold blacks to whites.
The gambling in Brazil parts of the film were filmed near Cali, La Guajira and the town of Villa de Leyva in Colombia, the African scenes in Ghana. The film standing in the center is actually in Elmina slave fort. The Royal Palace of Abume was specially built for the film about ten miles outside of Tamale from clay and plaster. In the documentary film My Best Fiend, Herzog also expressed to Cobra Verde. Duke himself saw the film as a work that is itself " remained alien " him in some way. His impression was that Kinski 's mind was already on his dream project Kinski Paganini and this fact had already affected his performance subliminally.