Salt and Fire

Usually a director of fascinating films and documentaries about humans clashing with their environments, director Werner Herzog delivers a misfire with this puzzling, uncentered drama. Clearly, Salt and Fire is meant as a kind of parable, with its story intended to represent certain themes, but those themes end up overpowering any kind of emotion or character, and the act of watching the movie becomes more like listening to an awkward sermon, delivered in odd, stiff dialogue.

Perhaps if the movie had been set in some kind of alternate or sci-fi universe, it might have helped the material go down more easily. And it does have some striking imagery. But, as it is, set in reality, the extremely peculiar, off-putting behaviors and actions -- such as a man riding in a wheelchair only when he feels like it -- clash. It's almost unintentionally surreal. Still, any movie that tries to raise awareness about the environment and the urgent need to take care of it gets a certain amount of credit, and Herzog's heart is in the right place, even if his head isn't.