X
- 2019
- Not Rated
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
- 2019
- Not Rated
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
Summary Rising from a farm boy to become President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev brought about changes that helped end the Cold War, toppled the USSR, enabled the reunification of Germany and transformed the world forever.
Directed By: Werner Herzog, André Singer
Written By: Werner Herzog
- 2019
- Not Rated
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
- 2019
- Not Rated
- The Orchard
- 1 h 30 m
Meeting Gorbachev
72
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary Rising from a farm boy to become President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev brought about changes that helped end the Cold War, toppled the USSR, enabled the reunification of Germany and transformed the world forever.
Directed By: Werner Herzog, André Singer
Written By: Werner Herzog
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
72
82% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
18% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
72
82% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
18% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Defining a politician’s titan legacy in a singularly unexpected way, Meeting Gorbachev meets its expectations.
Historians of the period will learn nothing new from the movie, yet it remains a stirring enterprise, especially when it peers back, beyond the bright public record of Gorbachev’s heyday, into the mist of what feels like a distant past.
Meeting Gorbachev is a hagiography, but it’s unafraid to position itself as such; Herzog makes his case proudly and passionately.
Because the potential is extraordinary, it’s a surprise that the film, co-directed by Herzog and Andre Singer, is so conventional and enthusiastic, bordering on adoring.
Not since Klaus Kinski has Herzog aimed his camera at such an uncontrollable subject, and that includes the erupting peaks of “Into the Volcano” and the radioactive crocodiles in “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams.”
Despite the film’s obvious interest, it is a bit conceited and stately, a little like Wim Wenders’ movie about Pope Francis, though without the sycophancy.
The movie finally achieves some belated emotional power when it addresses, in its final minutes, Gorbachev’s beloved wife, Raisa, who died of leukemia in 1999. It does so, however, via clips from an entirely different documentary, Vitaly Mansky’s "Gorbachev: After Empire" (2001). Why not just watch that film, since Meeting Gorbachev never so much as mentions any event that’s happened since?
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.6
56% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
44% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.6
56% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
44% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Spring Films,
Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
Release Date May 3, 2019
Duration 1 h 30 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Awards
Biografilm Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
International Documentary Association
• 1 Nomination
