My relation with German director Werner Herzog and his films is dating back about four decades. Sometime in the 70s I attended a 'festival of West German film' which I do not know how escaped the censorship filters in my native Romania. That week I saw several of the films of filmmakers in the generation representing the 'New German Film "which became one of the most interesting trends of the 70s in international cinema. Of all movies the strongest impression made to me 'Aguirre, the Wrath of Gods' - a historical drama set in the period of the 'Conquista' - the Spanish colonization of South America - starring Klaus Kinski, an extraordinary actor. The name the movie director was Werner Herzog was.The career of the film-maker which once was called by Francois Truffaut "the most important film director alive" has had many ups and downs. Part of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's generation, together with Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff and Wim Wenders his interests and artistic endeavors diversified after the 80s. Documentaries seems to be the area that gave the most rewards and enjoyed appreciation lately. His most recent film in this category 'Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World' is the history, present and future of the Internet. A subject that of course intrigued me allowing a unique encounter between my passion for cinema and one of the most interesting filmmakers of the movie industry, and my profession (and life passion) - the Internet.The ten episodes of the film treat in somewhat chronological order the beginnings of the Internet, its achievements and problems, and its future with opportunities and risks. The first short episode aroused interest and created nostalgia of those who lived the era of the beginnings of communications between computers, or - like me - had the opportunity to personally meet some of the heroes of those times. Leonard Kleinrock is one of those who attended the first attempt to establish communication between computers located in the Californian universities in Los Angeles and Stanford. The electrical cabinet (actually a computer with a tiny computing power compared to any mobile phone today, but a peak of technology in the late 60s) that initiated the communication in the episode described in the film was trying to send word 'log' (to login) to the remote machine. However, the first message ever sent over the Internet encountered first 'bug' on the Internet, and caused the first 'crash', so that the third letter of the word, a 'g' never appeared on the other side. It's just that 'lo' from the beginning of the movie title that offers the chance of a play of words in English using the expression 'lo and behold' which means surprise event that we might call in today's hi-tech language as 'disrupting '.Each of the other nine segments addresses from different perspectives the relationship between information technology and communications in the world we live today or or the world of the future. There are for example segments about artificial intelligence and its applications in intelligent transports, the Web's beginnings and development prospects of hypertext communications, about Internet safety and the unbearable easy security attacks, about the connection between electronic games and smart development programs. Several other topics were abandoned during production, for example those related to electronic payments and currency Bitcoin, although someday footage may appear and be made public. Known personalities including Bob Kahn, Elon Musk and Tim Berners-Lee appear in the film. Some episodes are more pessimistic and discuss the dangers and threats introduced by the Internet - impressive being the one about the family photos decrying the child died in an accident traffic incident are made public with a typical lack of discretion and sensitivity in communications unfortunately so prevalent on the Internet. Not all episodes are directly related to the Internet - for example the phenomenon of sensitivity to electromagnetic waves is known, studied and treated in different ways (the one shown in the movie is just one option) but it is not directly linked to the global network but rather to radio communications . We meet on this occasion with one of those folks belonging to an anarchist community that tries to live in social islands unconnected to the global network. The interviewing techniques used by Werner Herzog mostly include asking from off (we never see his face face) questions with German calm and precision (underlined by his accent), but he obviously guided interlocutors and created the glue and thread of reasoning developed in the film.Werner Herzog's interest in the Internet and technology is recent. Until a few years ago, Herzog could be considered a 'techno-skeptic' and its attitude toward certain Internet applications such as social media was clearly negative. Things have changed by the time he approached the project but the humanistic view of his questions are trenchant and come from unexpected directions, with a dose of caution and even pessimism about the interaction between human nature and technology These remain the traits that distinguish this film which is addressing in a different way than we are accustomed the Internet and mass communications.Addressing the theme of 'Dreams' and showing the combination of Internet and artificial intelligence as one of the directions the most promising technology, but also of the most intriguing and perhaps even dangerous of the possible routes in the future, Herzog places himself in the vanguard technology.Will the Internet become (together with entities equipped with artificial intelligence) completely autonomous? And after this happens - the problem only when - what will be the difference between the perfect thinking machines and the imperfect individuals that make up mankind? The ability to dream? Love? Can robots dream or fall in love? What about the Internet?

When it's bad it's still pretty good...Lo and Behold is in my opinion not one of the best efforts by Herzog. It's entertaining, it has Herzog's trademark narration which is great but somehow this film and the way Herzog approached the subject matter feel a little bit hollow. Like Herzog phoned it in.There are really funny moments like those in the trailer but more often there are moments that feel a bit cheap. For example there is a family interviewed who where victim of being harassed on the internet. People where sending them gruesome pictures of their daughter who died in a car accident. This family is still pretty much damaged by these events. Instead of delving deeper in to why people do such awful things Herzog uses the family for laughs. Maybe this was not his intention but because their story was so minimal we got to see caricatures of who these people are really like. Which feels a bit lazy. The same goes for some of the other people interviewed. Herzog does his best to get an poetic or thoughtful response but most of the time people just look at him like they don't understand the question. Of course for each of the moments there is a brilliant scene just around the corner. So it's certainly not all bad. But a lot of times certain segments don't really add up or make sense. Like for example the segment about internet on Mars. It seemed a little bit disjointed and not the most coherent story. At these moments luckily Herzog comes in with his fantastic voice and entertaining narration and saves the movie from unraveling.All in all I found this movie entertaining but not up to the standards of other Herzog movies.

The overarching theme of this documentary by Werner Herzog is the internet. However, this is a HUGE topic--way too much for one film. Additionally, Herzog chooses to go off in many directions--any of which could have merited an entire documentary in and of itself. So, had "Lo and Behold" been a series, it would have been terrific. As is, it's enjoyable but often frustrating because it lacks a concise focus.The film begins with a tiny introduction to the birth of the internet through the ARPANET. I really liked this historical aspect of the film...but it was very brief...frustratingly so. The film then bounced to topics like self-driving cars, cyber bullying, living off the net and folks who claim to have illnesses caused by various waves (such as cell phones, microwaves and the like), hacking, the vulnerability of the net to solar activity, artificial intelligence and robots and the future of the internet and technology! As I said, too much information and it's presented but often not adequately explored. So is the film worth seeing? Yes. But it's also maddening to watch as it often felt as if you've been invited to a gourmet meal....with 156 different courses and each one comes and goes like lightning in order to get the meal completed on time!I have seen many of Herzog's documentaries and have loved many of them. I know he's a brilliant and talented man...but here the whole project just seems as if it was slapped up on the screen without regard to the subject matter or the effect it would have on the viewer. A misfire.

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.My expectation was that this film would explore the development of the Internet and a bit about how it works and has expanded. To an extent, this is accurate. We get a look at the birthplace of the Internet, and we see plenty of stories about the world of computing, especially hacking (both from cyber threats and from trophy-hunters like Kevin Mitnick).But we go way beyond that. I am disappointed that we don't explore the Internet more, but Herzog makes up for this by exploring other loosely connected ideas. Space travel to Mars, for one. He also talks with people who have an intense sensitivity to electro-magnetic fields. The most bizarre segment involves a family who was apparently attacked over the death of their daughter. Herzog makes the family look a bit crazy, and this isn't helped by the mother's claim that the Internet is the Anti-Christ, a view that clearly demonstrates she is mentally unstable.