Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This is maybe the statement which describes Swiss ski jumper Walter Steiner the best. Back in the 1970s, he had to start lower than his competition and yet he won easily most of the time. Had he started where they did, it would have been too dangerous as he may have had jumps of around 180 meters. And despite this massive talent, Steiner still had to work as a carpenter, so he would have enough money. If you know a bit about ski jumping (and -flying today), you will understand better about the perspectives. They improved the material so much in the last decades that the current world record stands at over 250 meters. I heard in another documentary that Herzog was ambitious to become a ski jumper himself, but then picked the profession of filmmaker after a serious ski jumping accident by a friend of his. Well, without that friend's crash, we may not have Herzog's excellent contributions to the world of movies today, so all's good I guess.Here, he tries to examine the mind and psychology of somebody who risks his health, maybe his life, so many times. There is certainly a reference about being free as a bird. The competition of ski jumping on the biggest hills is called flying for a reason. The film runs for 44 minutes and Herzog was in his early 30s when this was made. Steiner was in his early 20s. Steiner also got a small cameo in another Herzog film from the same year. It's also funny to see how the athletes had to prepare the skis themselves. Unthinkable today.Maybe this is still the most famous ski jumping documentary, or movie in general, of all time. I thought it was worth a watch for seeing the differences compared to today (I was very interested in it a while ago, but don't watch it today anymore) and because of Herzog's narration which is as strong as ever. The title is slightly pretentious and sometimes he is a bit over the top in terms of drama when he says it is unsure if he will ever jump again and then he jumped the same day, but oh well. I still enjoyed the watch. Recommended.

MartinHafer This film is about Walter Steiner, a Swiss ski jumper whose specialization is ski flying--the longest of all the ski jumping events. Back in the 1970s, he was a major star--with an Olympic silver medal and two world championships.Werner Herzog and his crew traveled to three different places to make this 45 minute documentary--two in Germany and the big event in Yugoslavia. It's interesting that Steiner ended up winning the event and setting a world record here--as other athletes COULD have won. For example, it's pretty easy to get knocked out of the contest due to injury (and Steiner does take a pretty nasty fall in this one)--and the film would have ended up focusing on a good ski flyer who lost! But, in the end, Steiner pulls it off and wins by a very comfortable margin.The film is very interesting to see because of the nice camera-work. Even when seen today, you marvel at some of the slow-motion closeup shots. How did they get these shots so well considering that Steiner is flying very high and very fast. It is interesting that Steiner's world record of 166 meters is actually WAY less than the record today--which stands at 246.5 meters! Worth seeing and well made.

Donald_Ptahotep A very moving portrait of a simple Swiss woodcarver who becomes the world's best ski jumper. The man's life, his motivation, his fears, his hopes: all beautifully relayed in this early masterpiece by Werner Herzog. Here we find a great tribute to Swiss honesty and depth. I know Swiss people who think and feel like Walter Steiner. And then there's that unforgettable story in which Walter Steiner compares himself with a bird he had saved and raised in his youth, a bird he ultimately had to kill to save it from pain and the cruelty of its companions. Only Herzog can give us meditations of that kind. What is Walter Steiner doing these days?

alice liddell If, like me, you think documentaries are the runt of the cinematic crown, a lazy option, an unimaginative, dreary response to life, a mendaciously arrogant appropriation of 'truth', than this film might make you see other possibilities in the form. Where documentaries are generally concerned with the 'real', what can be seen, evaluated, and understood, Herzog aims for nothing less than a representation of the sublime. And, as so often, he comes very close.Walter Steiner is a typical Herzog hero. He carves wood sculptures from ideas that sound suspiciously Herzogian. He tells fable-like stories about his youth, an example of the subject appropriating the language of an all-interpreting creator (Herzog). He is both artist and storyteller. His great gift, however, is in sport, a milieu of order and repetition seemingly alien to Herzog's epic dreams of convention-busting.Steiner is a ski-jumper. He skis down high slopes, and then just flies over huge distances. He is frequently heard complaining that the slopes are put too high, that he is in danger of jumping too far and killing himself,. This, of course, is why Herzog thinks he is less a mere sportsman, than an exalted attitude to death. He is frequently compared to birds - he is someone who can fly, escape the mundane, transcend the everyday to another spirit level altogether. The very orgasmic brevity of the act makes it all the more precious.In the act of filming, Herzog appropriates this Wagnerian achievement for himself. By ignoring straight narrative, character, and concentrating on the exquisite moment; by bending, reshaping, slowing down time to elongate the sublime; Herzog goes beyond simple observation to enter new realms of experience. Although there are uncomfortable echoes of Leni Riefenstahl's mountain films, the photography in this film is unparalleled in modern cinema, with the dazzling white vast slopes all mere props for the ecstatic revelation of Steiner's art, this melding of two realms, our human, worldly level, and the mystical unknown.This kind of Teutonic postering is not usually to my taste, but there are many pleasing more earthy moments, especially the sight of Herzog, cinema's great visionary scuttling around like a nerdy sports fan with ABC and all the other world media. Now there's a sight I never thought I'd see.