Even Dwarfs Started Small · reception & legacy
1971 · Werner Herzog
How Even Dwarfs Started Small has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
On release it scandalised audiences — accused of mocking its all-dwarf cast and dismissed as a provocation — but it's since been reclaimed as one of Herzog's purest, most anarchic works, championed by later generations of filmmakers.
What's debated
The debate never dies: is Herzog exploiting his cast of dwarfs, or is this a genuinely radical film that's entirely on their side?
Its footprint
Its images of gleeful anarchy — a driverless van circling endlessly, a rebellion that spirals into pure chaos — have become shorthand for cinema at its most feral, and Harmony Korine has repeatedly named it a favourite, its DNA visible in Gummo.
Where it stands
A deep-cut cult object and a rite of passage for Herzog completists — the 'you've seen Aguirre, but have you seen THIS' film.