Gorbachev as Narrated by Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog, the renowned German filmmaker, has focused more on documentary filmmaking in recent years, and his latest work titled "Meeting Gorbachev" was recently screened at the Vienna Festival (Wienale); a portrait documentary that seeks to present a lovable image of the last President of the Soviet Union. Herzog approaches this 87-year-old figure and attempts to unveil the untold stories of the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union through interviews with him and a few others. However, the film ultimately transforms into a personal portrait of a lovable old man who is considered a hero by the filmmaker, rather than a historical and explanatory work about these events that might reveal untold stories. In one scene, Herzog openly tells Gorbachev that he loves him and is grateful that he allowed his country, Germany, to unite after years. The film, while referencing historical realities—such as the millions-strong human chain in Estonia for independence—concludes that there was no alternative to collapse, but it also emphasizes that if someone other than Gorbachev had been in power, different events might have occurred. Miklós Németh, the Prime Minister of Hungary at the end of communist rule, states in the film that he decides to remove the barbed wire between his country and Austria, and when he begins to do so, he expects to receive a warning from Moscow via Gorbachev's direct and special phones, but no phone rings. The film also has a humorous atmosphere. Aside from Gorbachev's character at this age, who has become a funny old man, the dialogues and special editing create a cheerful atmosphere. For instance, the Hungarian Prime Minister says that after removing hundreds of meters of barbed wire, the Austrian Foreign Minister calls him and suggests that they both do this in front of television cameras. As a result, they have to put the barbed wire back in place to later remove it in front of the cameras! Meanwhile, Herzog's voice, along with images from Austrian television, tells us how the news of the removal of these barbed wires is briefly covered after a lengthy report about animals. The next step is the fall of the most famous wall in the world: the Berlin Wall. The film tells us how the fall of this wall also faced no opposition from the President of the Soviet Union, marking a historical page that Herzog now credits to Gorbachev. Although the 87-year-old Gorbachev is proud of his efforts to end the Cold War, he is not particularly pleased with the collapse of the Soviet Union and expresses regret about it. While the film attempts to narrate all the events of Gorbachev's life in chronological order (including his birth in a remote place with very poor parents), it does not provide enough information about the collapse of the Soviet Union, which ultimately led to his resignation, and Gorbachev himself does not say anything new apart from a brief expression of regret. The problem with the film begins where Herzog does not clarify his intentions; it is unclear whether he wants to create a film full of history and information for the younger generation unaware of those events or a personal film about a human and his emotions. On the other hand, his subject—likely due to his advanced age and physical condition—has not been very accessible, and all the dialogue sections of the film are very limited and short. As a result, Herzog probably did not achieve his goal of building a film with new insights and was forced to settle for a combination of a news/informational film and a personal film. All the questions related to the death of his wife—whom Gorbachev considers the meaning of his life—indicate the creator's effort to get closer to a character who, according to Herzog, changed the world; an old man who has ordered sugar-free chocolate for his birthday, and the removal of a letter from his name from the chocolate does not diminish his childlike joy and perhaps reminds us how innocent and beautiful our world could have been without war, borders, and politics.