A study in contradictions, Werner Herzog, more than any of his peers, has embodied German history, character and cultural richness in his work. Yet unlike his contemporaries (Fassbinder, Wenders, Schlondorff), Herzog has set no significant film in his own country in his own time. Instead, his restless nature has taken him far and wide, and his journeys to the edge have provided the impetus for filmmaking renowned for its physical demands on everyone involved. Though growing up in the shadow of remembered Nazi atrocities prompted him to probe the darker aspects of human behavior, Herzog