"Cobra Verde" is a collaboration between West German and Ghana from 1987, so this one will have its 30th anniversary next year. The primary language in here is German and director Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski collaborated here one final time to make this movie. It is not the first film that takes the two to exotic places obviously. The movie runs for 110 minutes approximately and has Kinski play a man who is in charge of supervising slaves, but then he is sent to Africa where he is the only White guy among so so many Black people. Of course, the blonde hair (slightly gray already by then) helps in creating the big contrast in physicality. I cannot say I am familiar with any of the other actors here. Herzog directed of course, but he also wrote the script and for that he adapted Bruce Chatwin's novel. While I love Herzog and Like Kinski, I must say that this film felt a bit like a poor man's version of some of the other work from the duo such as Fitzcarraldo (never been too big on "Aguirre"). The story dragged on quite a few occasions and I must say that overall I did not feel that this was a really exciting movie. Insanity always played a major role, in front of the cameras and certainly also behind the cameras with the volcano that is Klaus Kinski. I would not say that this is a good choice to start getting into Herzog's filmography. I am not at all saying that it was a failure, but it just left me hoping for a better movie and it's far from the best Herzog and Kinski have come up with together. But why would you want to start with this one as it's also a fairly later career effort from Kinski and he was already 60 here. Only 3 Italien films should follow until his death less than five years later. I guess he was probably past peak already for this one too. I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

Cobra Verde is best known as the final collaboration between director Werner Herzog and star actor Klaus Kinski. These two mavericks had come together explosively several times before and, in the process, created some fascinating works of cinema. It was here, however, that the Herzog/Kinski partnership finally and irreparably hit the skids, with Kinski behaving on-set in a manner too negative, even by his alarming standards. This last film is generally considered to be the weakest of the five collaborations and, in fairness, this is not an unreasonable verdict as the plot dynamics and central character are less interesting than in previous films. Having said that, it's still hardly a poor film in a general sense and still has quite a few things about it to recommend.Its story focuses on the 19th century African slave trade. After impregnating all of his plantation boss's daughters, a bandit is sent from Brazil to West Africa to buy slaves in an enterprise his boss fully expects will result in his death. It doesn't quite work out that way and he becomes very involved with an African tribal war instead.Much here is similar to the other Herzog/Kinski films that preceded it. It is set in a historical period, it has a central character who is an outsider with a hint of madness and it features documentary realism in its use of indigenous non-actors in support roles. The location photography is one of the definite strong points and Kinski is always interesting to watch, although in this role he is perhaps more difficult to like than usual; after all he is a slave trader, which is hardly the most sympathetic job title. He and his fellow white men display casual racism throughout, although the film doesn't really much delve into the rights and wrongs of slavery very much and is more a character study of a man in the middle of this scenario. I think the main problem is that the story doesn't really give us much to work with or care too much about. The film, as a result works more in places, with some individual scenes sticking in the mind; most notably for me was the appearance of the 'nuns' – a sequence where several African girls chant and dance in a very captivating manner. There are other interesting moments sprinkled throughout but Cobra Verde somehow doesn't work as well as a whole piece and remains interesting but flawed.

Klaus Kinski in all his craziness cannot save this visually stunning, but ultimately boring movie from Werner Herzog. I have seen travel films with more substance, and there is very little meaningful dialog. This plays like a film on African customs, with Kinski just happening to be in almost every scene. The story lacks cohesion, many scenes go on for way too long, and there is zero character development other than Klaus Kinski. Though it portends to be an epic like "Aguirre" or "Fitzcarraldo", it is not even close to the entertainment value of those films. "Cobra Verde" is little more than a string of exotic visuals. - MERK

"Cobra Verde" is probably the less brilliant movie that Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski made together. It's the story of a Portuguese bandit that eventually becomes the Viceroy of some African region (when Portugal had some colonies over there).This time the making of the film wasn't as chaotic as it was in "Aguirre" or "Fitzcarraldo", what let Herzog recreate himself filming the deserted landscapes and the native women, and that's precisely what spoils the movie's rhythm. It looks like Herzog fell in love so much with those African natives that he couldn't help to fill dozens of sequences with their rites and their dance (and that stuff does not contribute in anything to the story).Anyway, "Cobra Verde" is just a MUST SEE for those who really like the madman Kinski (just like I do) , because he released his temper and his anger one more time in this performing. You can never know when Kinski is gonna explode.*My rate: 6/10