Sightlines · reception
How Even Dwarfs Started Small was received
1971 · Werner Herzog · Even Dwarfs Started Small on Sightlines
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 favorite, 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.
Did you know? Herzog promised his cast that if they all made it through the shoot he'd jump into a cactus field — and after one actor was run over by the van and another briefly caught fire (both unharmed), he kept his word and leapt into the cacti.