7. Even Dwarves Started Small (1970)
When I watched this film, it was so demented I was speechless. Werner Herzog is known as a left field film director, but in Even Dwarfs Started Small, he excels himself. Basically, a group of dwarfs are confined to an institution. They hold an uprising against their captors (who are dwarfs as well). This uprising consists of throwing plates about, breaking windows, food fights and cock fights and crucifying a monkey among other random deranged things. Filmed in Lanzarote, the tales behind the making of the movie are as entertaining as the movie itself. One of the dwarf actors was run over and then accidentally set on fire. Herzog promised the actors that if there were no more on set injuries by the end of the film, he would jump into a patch of cacti. There were no more accidents and Herzog jumped. Definitely Herzog's most weird and surreal film, Even Dwarfs Started Small firmly sides itself with the inmate dwarves who are struggling to overcome their oppressive regime, but do not know how to overthrow the system beyond going mad and throwing things about. Herzog always identifies with the weak, the oppressed and the outcasts in his films. Even Dwarfs Started Small is disturbing, provocative and darkly comedic. It isn't Herzog's finest work but it is his most nightmarishly surreal work.