"Lessons of Darkness" is a masterpiece, an undefiable and important film for audiences to watch. Rather than putting together a collection of monologues and dialogues like most documentaries, Herzog show us the honest desolate and decayed landscape of a uncivilized world torn apart by greed and human destruction. The film is a foray into the darkest parts of mankind, w/ no duality, no metaphor, only the barren reality of a desert (it was filmed during the Gulf War, at Kuwait), the death of civilization and the Earth as we know it. "The oil disguises itself as water", a masterful statement from Herzog in the beginning of the film will leave you wondering what this film is trying to accomplish: Herzog has stated clearly in the past (before this film) that he wishes to wage war against the indolent media. Why would he make this film, if it were not for the media or for a particular culture of people? It's believed Herzog wanted to die for this film, and it must be true (the imagery and tone is unscathed from anything but himself.) I was curious and unaware of the people (perhaps I should say unpeople) of the job these men do every day, the useless and self destructive element of trying to control oil burns. I found it fascinating they would throw the amount of the resources they do every day into a futile abyss - perhaps this tells us something honest, great, and terrible... something Herzog seems to capture in most of his movies. This must be Herzog's most precise film as well - because each act is a juxtaposition of Kuwait's current condition, the oblivious surroundings of the city near the gulf *must* indicate a constant state of sleep for those who make habit and live there... Act IV I believe is the most potent, telling us a story of terrible violence, and one that cannot be helped but to finally awake those perhaps who live there. I could not imagine having to experience most of the stories told in this film; the secrecy and corruption of corporate oil rig companies versus those who pay the price... Of course, Herzog leaves everything up to the viewer; neither black or white but the impure gradient of a sky whose reflections tell us of a untold memory of the Earth suffering, dying, and eventually re-birthing once again in great splendor. Question: is this really what humans must endure to survive?