Salt and Fire

salt and fire movie review

"Salt and Fire" is what happens when a great director makes a very bad film. It's a beguiling enterprise, to be sure, but instead of being captivated with what is on the screen you're wondering why this project exists, and if any previous efforts by the filmmaker can help it make sense. For a director who has always reached audiences through what could be considered his own language, like when he injects artifice into his documentaries to create what he calls "the ecstatic truth," no such interpretation is possible here. "Salt and Fire" is fundamentally bad, in its filmmaking and expressiveness, whether there is any meaning to a parrot quoting Nostradamus or not.

Written and directed by Werner Herzog , "Salt and Fire" is a seed that fails to grow. Inspired by a short story by Tom Bissell , the script is concerned with an ecological disaster in Bolivia, in which three scientists (played by Veronica Ferres , Volker Michalowski and Gael García Bernal ) have been sent down by the United Nations to investigate. Ferres is the only scientist that matters, as soon into the movie the scientists are kidnapped, albeit by armed but nonthreatening masked men. Fans of Bernal should be advised that he leaves the picture quickly, due to what is called "the mother of diarrhea," and that the movie mostly concerns Ferres' character Laura and conversations with her masked captor, Matt Reilly ( Michael Shannon ). 

After Matt unmasks himself, even though he insisted he wouldn't, the kidnapping takes a more poetic but ridiculous turn. As a CEO with a personal involvement in the disaster, Laura and her team want to investigate; he kidnaps her to take her to places that she was already going to, and to see things that she was already planning to see. But as he staunchly reasons, "there is no reality, there are only views of reality." Shannon is undoubtedly a Herzog movie villain, but his hammy passion comes without a stable dramatic reality itself, and it's just hokey. This is when the laugh-out-loud moments arrive, like when his sidekick Krauss ( Lawrence Krauss , a theoretical physicist in real life) stands up after appearing in a wheelchair for the whole movie. "Is this a miracle?" Ferres asks, sincerely but with her rough draft performance. Krauss answers: "I only use the wheelchair when I am tired of life." Even if one wants to take this venture seriously with all that Herzog does and does not put into it, "Salt and Fire" becomes like an extremely dry joke of questionable intent, much more silly or slight than ever profound. 

The opening credit of "A Werner Herzog Film" be damned, this is egregious directorial work. Terse expositional dialogue begets hammy, laughable performances, which beget numerous cringeworthy sequences meant to have tinges of poetry or conspiracy. Ferres and Krauss in particular contribute to flat line-reading that the story seems to languish on, while an immaculately expressive actor like Michael Shannon has the vigor snuffed out of him. Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger goes long with numerous takes, often circling people as they deliver humdinger after humdinger of goofy dialogue, but when scenes end on close-ups of a character's face, the expressions are unfailingly vacant. As the story and dialogue gets stranger and sillier, looking just like a dressed-up Neil Breen joint, "Salt and Fire" becomes, at its best, Herzog's version of camp; at its worst, unwitting self-parody. 

Eventually, the narrative does get to the place that it dreams about, and you could definitely call it a muse: the salt desert. Herzog's screenplay is overshadowed by cinematography that captures a truly amazing expanse of white, in the final third of the film in which Laura is abandoned by Matt on an island by the cloud-white sea with two young boys who don't speak English and are going blind. In the background lay the ominous, massive volcano Uturunku, which we learn will soon enough hurl us into the apocalypse—a better Herzog character than anyone with dialogue here. The way Herzog extensively films this environment will make you miss his documentary filmmaking, which always benefits from the primary sense of discovery, with you alongside him on an adventure to a mysterious corner of the world. But his narratives are often instead about him sharing a time and place that fascinate him so, with "Salt and Fire" becoming an example where the poetry of the landscape implodes to Herzog-babble. 

"Salt and Fire" is a movie built on resistance, in manners that must be choices especially from a filmmaker that one should always trust. It resists any narrative integrity, it chooses acting that is lifeless, it rants endlessly whether it wants to amuse logic or not. This would make a lot more sense if Herzog were the type of filmmaker to use high-concept irony, but I don't fancy Herzog that kind of storyteller (he made a sincere " Bad Lieutenant " reimagining, after all). And even if Herzog has recently allowed himself to become a bit of an intellectual novelty, he is no simple clown. But if anyone could be fulfilled by "Salt and Fire," I trust that Herzog is. I would love to know why. 

salt and fire movie review

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

salt and fire movie review

  • Lawrence Krauss as Krauss
  • Michael Shannon as Matt Riley
  • Veronica Ferres as Laura
  • Volker Michalowski as Dr. Meier
  • Gael García Bernal as Dr. Fabio Cavani
  • Werner Herzog as Man with one story
  • Ernst Reijseger

Cinematographer

  • Peter Zeitlinger

Writer (short story)

  • Tom Bissell
  • Werner Herzog

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  • Common Sense Says
  • Parents Say 1 Review
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Common Sense Media Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Herzog drama has worthy message, off-putting delivery.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Salt and Fire , a drama from director Werner Herzog, has a strong pro-environmental message. But it's such a strange, awkward misfire that it's unlikely that anyone who's not already pro-environment will get behind it. It also has moments of violence: A woman is kidnapped,…

Why Age 15+?

A woman is kidnapped, blindfolded, and handcuffed. Spoken reference to her scrat

A use of "f--k."

A man touches a woman's breast (on top of her clothing). Reference to a "buxom w

A man orders a fourth glass of champagne. Social drinking on a plane.

Lego blocks shown.

Any Positive Content?

Strong pro-environmental message; urges us to be more considerate of the world a

A businessman shows remorse for his careless treatment of the environment, but h

Parents need to know that Salt and Fire , a drama from director Werner Herzog , has a strong pro-environmental message. But it's such a strange, awkward misfire that it's unlikely that anyone who's not already pro-environment will get behind it. It also has moments of violence: A woman is kidnapped, blindfolded, and handcuffed. A struggle is shown, as are guns, and there's talk of scratching and biting. There's also general tension and yelling. A man flirts inappropriately with a woman, placing his hand on her breast, over her clothing. Language includes one use of "f--k," as well as a reference to a "buxom wench." Adult characters drink a bit too much while on an airplane, with no real consequences.

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Violence & Scariness

A woman is kidnapped, blindfolded, and handcuffed. Spoken reference to her scratching and biting. Guns shown. Struggling, fighting, hitting. General tension, yelling.

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A man touches a woman's breast (on top of her clothing). Reference to a "buxom wench."

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Positive messages.

Strong pro-environmental message; urges us to be more considerate of the world around us.

Positive Role Models

A businessman shows remorse for his careless treatment of the environment, but he goes about it in a strange, somewhat violent way. Other characters are too flat or abrasive to count as role models.

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Based on 1 parent review

I should have been a producer

What's the story.

In SALT AND FIRE, Professor Laura Somerfeld ( Veronica Ferres ), accompanied by two scientists ( Gael Garcia Bernal and Volker Michalowski), have been dispatched to an unnamed South American country to investigate a potentially deadly environmental phenomenon. At the airport, they're met by mysterious men and subsequently kidnapped. One of the kidnappers reveals himself to be Matt Riley ( Michael Shannon ), the CEO of a company that likely caused the problem: an ever-expanding salt flat that's taken the place of a water source. Riley drives Laura out on the flats, reaching an island in the middle of a vast sea of white salt, and, unexpectedly, leaves her there. Even more unexpectedly, two blind boys have also been left behind. There's food, water, and shelter, but how long can they survive, and what is Riley's ultimate plan?

Is It Any Good?

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Salt and Fire 's violence . How much violence is shown to get the movie's point across? Is it all necessary to the story?

How does Matt Riley convey his concerns about the salt flat disaster? What's his plan, and how is it supposed to work? Did it work on you?

Did this movie make you more or less concerned about the environment and climate change?

Are any of the characters here role models ? Why or why not?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : April 7, 2017
  • On DVD or streaming : April 4, 2017
  • Cast : Veronica Ferres , Michael Shannon , Gael Garcia Bernal
  • Director : Werner Herzog
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
  • Studio : XLrator Media
  • Genre : Drama
  • Run time : 98 minutes
  • MPAA rating : NR
  • Last updated : January 15, 2023

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Film Review: ‘Salt and Fire’

Werner Herzog's latest half-hearted return to narrative cinema is more excited by its stunning landscape than the life inside it.

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

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Salt and Fire Michael Shannon

Vast, impenetrable reams of aphoristic waffle are spouted by the characters in “Salt and Fire,” but minutes from the end of Werner Herzog ‘s thoroughly peculiar new narrative outing, the protagonist finally, plainly speaks for the audience. “Are you kidding me?” she yells — in bewildered response to the last of several random story swerves in the film, though it’s tempting to imagine the camera simply caught actress Veronica Ferres’s spontaneous reaction to the bonkers script. Either way, by this point, she’s only half as perplexed as most viewers will be by this awkwardly shoehorned fusion of ecological thriller, ideological romance and meditative landscape ode — only the last mode of which appears to have the veteran auteur’s full attention.

It’s no surprise, given Herzog’s recent dedication to the documentary form, that Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flats should emerge as the true star of “Salt and Fire,” despite the earnest efforts of Ferres and Michael Shannon . As in 2009’s “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?,” the latter proves he has a measure of the gonzo intensity that once made Herzog and Klaus Kinski kindred spirits, though the late, tortured German thesp never had to wrestle with material quite this ragged. Immediately preceding Herzog’s inert, long-languishing Nicole Kidman vehicle “Queen of the Desert” in U.S. theaters — despite quietly premiering a year later on the festival circuit — “Salt and Fire” likewise does little to suggest the helmer’s hiatus from narrative filmmaking between 2009 and 2015 was a restorative one.

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Even the virtues of both films are ones more satisfyingly expanded in his recent nonfiction work: a poetic engagement with the physical world, articulated in the director’s singularly eccentric rhetoric. When Shannon’s corporate mystic figure goes off on a loopy cod-philosophical rant (“Is it possible there’s something all-pervading around us that your data can’t analyze, that only prophets and birds can express?”), it’s no slight to the actor to say such plum-purple nonsense would sound slightly more persuasive in Herzog’s characteristically halting Teutonic tones.

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Well before proceedings turn quite so florid, however, the first third of “Salt and Fire” unspools on surprisingly straightforward genre terms, setting viewers up for a mundanely efficient hostage drama — right down to the done-to-death ploy of opening mid-crisis before a mostly redundant “this is how we got here” flashback. Environmental scientist Prof. Laura Somerfeld (Ferres) is called to Bolivia on a high-stakes U.N. research mission, concerning the ecological disaster of a parched lake swallowed by “El Diablo Blanco,” a rapidly expanding salt flat. Joining her are two male colleagues (Volker Zack Michalowski and a neurotically mugging Gael Garcia Bernal) so extraneous to proceedings that even the film tires of them halfway through, sidelining the men with a grisly case of diarrhea. Points for redressing decades of cinematic gender imblance, then, if not for tidiness of storytelling.

Once they arrive at a strangely deserted airport, viewers will pick up that an abduction is under way even before the black balaclavas and machine guns are whipped out. Herzog stages key moments of tensions and panic with some of his old urgency, even as his script — adapted from Tom Bissell’s short story “Aral” — remains stubbornly pedantic, laden with lumpy exposition (of the “are you not blessed with a beautiful eight-year-old daughter” variety) and self-evident exclamations. “So this was all a plan from the beginning!” Somerfeld cries, not exactly making excessive demands on her professorial smarts.

Less obvious is the precise motivation behind the kidnapping, information that grows only more elusive once the intervention’s mastermind, Matt Riley (Shannon), reveals himself. A shadowy but supposedly seductive CEO of a consortium known, helpfully enough, as The Consortium, his tangled explanation of the situation only carries the film into a radically contrasting second act. Politics and life-or-death practicalities fall by the wayside as Riley and a curiously rapt Somerfeld engage in a grandiloquent verbal volleyball match on matters of love, communication and anamorphic art.

This mealy-mouthed mini-chamber piece is mercifully short-lived; hazy near-dream logic dictates a segue into spartan survival drama, with Somerfeld stranded in El Diablo Blanco with two winsome Bolivian boys for company. Only in this baffling but beautiful interlude does “Salt and Fire” achieve a kind of grace, thanks largely to cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger’s understandable love affair with the sweeping, swan-white, naturally tessellated expanses of the salt flats; Ferre’s performance, hitherto stiff and flustered, gains an earthier physicality in line with her bleakly rapturous surroundings. (Even Ernst Reijseger’s quivering score, parts of which sound like they’ve been played on a single squeaky floorboard, relaxes in the salty, sunny glow.)

Just as the film appears to drawing to a strange, peacefully elemental close, however, Herzog breaks the silence with a manic reveal that is somehow ludicrous and anticlimactic at once. This most defiantly rule-resistant of filmmakers certainly hasn’t lost his capacity to surprise. “Salt and Fire’s” punchline, however, only enhances the sense of a shaggy-dog tale dashed off on the back of a postcard — it’s the scenery on the other side that holds our attention.

Reviewed online, London, April 5, 2017. (In Shanghai, Toronto, Fantastic Fest, Zurich, Sitges festivals.) Running time: 97 MIN.

  • Production: (France-Bolivia-Germany-U.S.-Mexico) A Skellig Rock, Construction Film, Benaroya Pictures production in association with Canada Films, International Film Trust, The Fyzz Facility in coproduction with ZDF, La Bete Lumineuse, Arte France Cinema. Producers: Nina Maag, Werner Herzog, Michael Benaroya, Pablo Cruz. Executive producers: Fabian Glubrecht, Arturo Sampson, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones.
  • Crew: Director, screenplay: Werner Herzog, based on the short story "Aral" by Tom Bissell. Camera (color, widescreen): Peter Zeitlinger. Editor: Joe Bini.
  • With: Veronica Ferres, Michael Shannon, Gael Garcia Bernal, Volker Zack Michalowski, Lawrence Krauss, Anita Briem, Danner Ignacio Marquez Arancibia, Gabriel Marquez Arancibia. (English, German, Spanish, Quecha dialogue)

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The Critical Movie Critics

Movie Review: Salt and Fire (2016)

  • Isabella Pappalettera
  • Movie Reviews
  • One response
  • --> May 11, 2017

The synopsis of acclaimed German director Werner Herzog’s 2016 thriller Salt and Fire , at first, seems to present a truly intriguing, unique and captivating story — “A renowned scientist is sent to Bolivia on an urgent mission to analyze a looming environmental catastrophe she along with her colleagues are deceived by a man claiming to be a member of the Ministry of Security and are kidnapped by a mysterious group of masked men . . .”

But please, do not be fooled by such a cleverly crafted excerpt, when lurking behind its attractive foreground is a laughable, cringe-worthy and absurd story concerning an ecological disaster and one scientist putting everything on the line to save the planet. From salt. And fire. Ground-breaking. Even the title of the film, Salt and Fire , sounds promising; a comparative name that arouses interest due to two powerful elements in our biosphere. The film, however, is neither powerful nor interesting.

Professor Laura Sommerfeld (Veronica Ferres, “Hector and the Search for Happiness”), an environmental scientist/single-mother (respectively) is abducted along with her two nit-wit colleagues, Dr. Fabio Cavani (Gael García Bernal, “Rosewater”) and Dr. Arnold Meier (Volker Michalowski, “ The Grand Budapest Hotel ”), by an anonymous agency — a floundering crew that haphazardly roam around in black. Laura’s project on the Diablo disaster — a man-made travesty — captures the attention of the mysterious balaclava-clad Matt Riley (Michael Shannon, “ Nocturnal Animals ”), who’s character welcomes the most anti-climactic reveal behind a balaclava in recent cinematic history.

The professor and her captor’s relationship reaches near Stockholm syndrome level and the violent kidnapping is nearly but forgotten until Prof. Sommerfeld is deserted on the bare salt flats with two blind twin boys, their difficult birth and eye-sight is later to be explained as an impact of the engulfing presence of the salt. Laura learns to adapt to the living situation and cares for the twins, tapping into that maternal instinct Herzog so desperately wants to sneak in (also indicative from the mind-numbingly pointless monologue she delivers on the pressure of being a mother and a world-saving scientist). She teaches them English, while she learns a few phrases from their mother tongue.

Salt and Fire presents an incomprehensible tale, muddled with bad acting, so forced it becomes amusing. An odd ensemble cast fumbles around the film providing next to no cohesion nor chemistry with each other. The pacing is off and the reactions are either stiff, or completely not believable. The characterization development adds another peculiar dimension to this already strange story. Special mention to a “Dr. Strangelove” inspired bad-guy named Krauss (Lawrence Krauss), a man who is believed to be disabled in a wheelchair, but can actually walk but just chooses not to. Seems legit. Pair all of this with a poorly written, sloppy script — maybe the actors can’t be at fault for delivering an awkward performance, their source material was simply flawed.

Nonsensical monologues that drag on to reach no point of significance don’t even begin to compare to the ridiculous amounts of unnecessary biblical quotations and bizarre one-liners that are meant to be either cryptic, or thought-provoking, leave a strange taste of confusion met with an awkward reaction from the intended receiver. Throw in some diarrhea-inducing dumplings and two blind twin boys deserted on the Bolivian salt flats, this film has no salvation for an at least half-serious approach to an environmental threat.

Perhaps the one saving grace this film offers its bored viewers is the stunning shots of Bolivia’s enchanting salt flats. Its only here that Herzog captures something real and authentic to offer the viewer.

What is really astounding is the fact that Salt and Fire was made in extremely capable hands. This is what’s really disappointing. Herzog’s status as a prominent and influential documentary and filmmaker makes this picture a greater mystery than it already is. From the magnificent over-head shots of the salt flats and the detail to location, Herzog and his team clearly had the resources, budget and know-how, but failed to appropriately put them to use in this so-called “thriller.”

Perhaps with the right angle, this film could have provided an important dialogue on man-made destruction on the earth, but unfortunately no such periods of enlightenment reached the final product.

Tagged: business , cover-up , disaster , scientist , volcano

The Critical Movie Critics

Graduate of the University of Sydney with a B.A. in Film/Cinema/Video Studies and now enrolled at the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good.

Movie Review: Class Rank (2017) Movie Review: Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story (2017) Movie Review: Almost Friends (2016) Movie Review: Literally, Right Before Aaron (2017) Movie Review: Wetlands (2017) Movie Review: Amnesia (2015) Movie Review: Letters from Baghdad (2016)

'Movie Review: Salt and Fire (2016)' has 1 comment

The Critical Movie Critics

February 11, 2018 @ 2:33 pm Fire

This is not Herzog’s best film, but is certainly enjoyable and vastly more original than the majority of movies released in 2016

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Salt and Fire Reviews

salt and fire movie review

If the film is a failure, it fails in the most fascinating, admirable, and lyrical ways.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 4, 2022

salt and fire movie review

The title has it backwards. The proper treatment of Salt and Fire is to burn it to nothing and salt the ashes.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 24, 2020

salt and fire movie review

Though his documentaries remain as vital as any in his career, Salt and Fire signals the further deterioration of Werner Herzog as a narrative filmmaker.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Dec 27, 2018

salt and fire movie review

Even though it loses steam as it approaches the end, the final scenes of Salt and Fire show Herzog at his most playful and highlight those unique sensibilities that make him unlike any other filmmaker ever.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 31, 2018

salt and fire movie review

The man, so wonderful to listen to in his non-fiction films as he narrates away in his deliciously thick German accent, has a tin ear for English dialogue spoken by actors.

Full Review | Sep 30, 2017

salt and fire movie review

... sure enough Herzog's continued thematic exploration of the often fraught cohabitation between man and nature comes through.

Full Review | Sep 14, 2017

salt and fire movie review

Suffers from stilted dialogue, tangential conversations that lead both everywhere and nowhere, plot threads and characters left hanging, and committed but constrained performances.

Full Review | Aug 30, 2017

salt and fire movie review

Salt and Fire, you see, is well-made folly. And like cult camp classics of yore, it rolls out enough portent and absurdity to leave you snickering.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Apr 28, 2017

salt and fire movie review

A visionary director's creative and challenging look at an ecological disaster.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 10, 2017

salt and fire movie review

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 9, 2017

salt and fire movie review

The final reels are so compelling it's almost worth sitting through everything that came before. Almost.

Full Review | Apr 8, 2017

A very peculiar misfire for Herzog, but still kinda interesting.

Full Review | Apr 7, 2017

Looking just like a dressed-up Neil Breen joint, Salt and Fire becomes, at its best, Herzog's version of camp; at its worst, unwitting self-parody.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 7, 2017

In imbuing what might otherwise be a straight-forward environmental thriller with his signature sense of artistry, Herzog has succeeded in creating a film without parallel.

salt and fire movie review

Salt and Fire is a hodgepodge of inexplicable characters, half-considered ideas, and a rambling plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 6, 2017

Herzog and co. seem totally tone deaf to how gross all of it is, which is much grosser than Gael Garca Bernal screaming about diarrhea, which is actually pretty funny.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/10 | Apr 6, 2017

Like something you peer at rather than absorb, "Salt and Fire" is both awful and a tad fascinating.

Full Review | Apr 6, 2017

salt and fire movie review

Werner Herzog's latest half-hearted return to narrative cinema is more excited by its stunning landscape than the life inside it.

salt and fire movie review

Audiences unfamiliar with Herzog will be largely baffled by this eccentric and meandering eco-drama, but aficionados will find much to enjoy here.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 6, 2017

salt and fire movie review

Perhaps the endeavor doesn't stitch together as cleanly as it could, but it's always 100% Herzog.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Apr 6, 2017

  • Cast & crew

User reviews

Veronica Ferres, Gael García Bernal, and Michael Shannon in Salt and Fire (2016)

Salt and Fire

Less of a thrill than a warning.

  • Apr 5, 2017

Began Promisingly, But Then Went Downhill

  • Jul 18, 2017

Give it a Rest, Werner

  • Jul 17, 2017

A Real Misfire for Herzog

  • Michael_Elliott
  • Apr 18, 2017

Hard to Watch

  • afshari-ali
  • Sep 15, 2016

Someone should have thrown salt on this slug

  • Jul 16, 2017

98 minutes of my life I will never get back....

  • stephenw-30180
  • Apr 3, 2017

Terrible movie

  • CinemaZealot57
  • Sep 9, 2017

Truly awful in every sense of the word

  • andrew-marks59
  • Dec 30, 2016

Herzog, Kafka and a cosmologist walk into a bar

  • gcastles-35417
  • Apr 12, 2017

Was this a parody or something?

  • Jul 26, 2017

Eco Thriller with Twist

  • Blue-Grotto
  • Oct 14, 2016

Tragically misunderstood

  • timhebb-601-37167
  • Nov 17, 2017

Watching grass grow is more exciting.

  • mwatters-22689
  • Jul 27, 2017

The film is just unbelievable

For one, too much. for all, too little.

  • nogodnomasters
  • Jul 14, 2017

Plain awful

Stick with the documentaries.

  • Leofwine_draca
  • May 17, 2019

Clumsy Attempt at making something deep and meaningful

  • t-dooley-69-386916
  • Aug 17, 2017

Certainly a 'disaster' film

  • May 2, 2017

terrible beginning, marvelous ending.

  • Mar 26, 2018

Impossibly Dull and Irreparably Flawed

  • tonytt-22734
  • Aug 3, 2017

A Stunningly Beautiful Eco Thriller

  • leanne-davis
  • Nov 8, 2016

Cryptic, ambiguous and worth seeing

  • silvana_biacca
  • May 11, 2021

An Eco-thriller...

  • Jul 12, 2017

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IMAGES

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  2. Salt and Fire movie review & film summary (2017)

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  3. Salt and Fire (2016)

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COMMENTS

  1. Salt and Fire movie review & film summary (2017) - Roger Ebert

    Written and directed by Werner Herzog, "Salt and Fire" is a seed that fails to grow. Inspired by a short story by Tom Bissell, the script is concerned with an ecological disaster in Bolivia, in which three scientists (played by Veronica Ferres, Volker Michalowski and Gael García Bernal) have been sent down by the United Nations to investigate.

  2. Salt and Fire - Rotten Tomatoes

    Sep 14, 2017 Full Review Nick Allen RogerEbert.com Looking just like a dressed-up Neil Breen joint, Salt and Fire becomes, at its best, Herzog's version of camp; at its worst, unwitting self-parody.

  3. Salt and Fire (2016) - IMDb

    Salt and Fire: Directed by Werner Herzog. With Veronica Ferres, Michael Shannon, Gael García Bernal, Volker Zack. A scientist blames the head of a large company for an ecological disaster in South America.

  4. Salt and Fire Movie Review | Common Sense Media

    a drama from director , has a strong pro-environmental message. But it's such a strange, awkward misfire that it's unlikely that anyone who's not already pro-environment will get behind it. It also has moments of violence: A woman is kidnapped, blindfolded, and handcuffed. A struggle is shown, as are guns, and there's talk of scratching and biting.

  5. Salt and Fire Reviews - Metacritic

    This most defiantly rule-resistant of filmmakers certainly hasn’t lost his capacity to surprise. Salt and Fire’s punchline, however, only enhances the sense of a shaggy-dog tale dashed off on the back of a postcard — it’s the scenery on the other side that holds our attention. Read More. By Guy Lodge FULL REVIEW. 50.

  6. Salt and Fire - Wikipedia

    France. Languages. English. Spanish. Salt and Fire is a 2016 thriller film written and directed by Werner Herzog. The film stars Michael Shannon, Veronica Ferres, and Gael García Bernal. [2] It tells the story about a hostage-taking situation set against an ecological disaster in Bolivia. [3] It had its premiere at the Shanghai International ...

  7. 'Salt and Fire' Review: Werner Herzog's Baffling Bolivian Eco ...

    Film Review: ‘Salt and Fire’ Reviewed online, London, April 5, 2017. (In Shanghai, Toronto, Fantastic Fest, Zurich, Sitges festivals.) ... The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time Biz Hollywood ...

  8. Movie Review: Salt and Fire (2016) - The Critical Movie Critics

    The synopsis of acclaimed German director Werner Herzog’s 2016 thriller Salt and Fire, at first, seems to present a truly intriguing, unique and captivating story — “A renowned scientist is sent to Bolivia on an urgent mission to analyze a looming environmental catastrophe she along with her colleagues are deceived by a man claiming to be a member of the Ministry of Security and are ...

  9. Salt and Fire - Movie Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes

    Salt and Fire is a hodgepodge of inexplicable characters, half-considered ideas, and a rambling plot. Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 6, 2017

  10. Salt and Fire (2016) - User Reviews - IMDb

    The film is just unbelievable. Gordon-11 19 April 2017. This film tells the story of a team of three scientists who are sent to South America by the United Nations to investigate the extent of environmental damage by a multinational corporation. After arrival, they get kidnapped and imprisoned against their will.