Cobra Verde (Slave Coast) (1988)
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86% of critics liked it
(14 reviews) -
74% of users liked it
(2,960 ratings)
Director Werner Herzog, as usual, has spared no one -- especially himself -- in bringing this story of 19th-century African slave trading to the screen. Klaus Kinski plays an enterprising young Brazilian who after impregnating the three daughters of his plantation-owning employer, is sent to West… More Director Werner Herzog, as usual, has spared no one -- especially himself -- in bringing this story of 19th-century African slave trading to the screen. Klaus Kinski plays an enterprising young Brazilian who after impregnating the three daughters of his plantation-owning employer, is sent to West Africa to round up slaves. Kinski goes to great lengths to befriend the very people he hopes to enslave and he eventually manages to overthrow a mad monarch and set himself up as king. As the years pass, Kinski grows wealthy -- and careless. However, despite enslaving the tribe, he does show some signs of humanitarian benevolence. This fifth and final collaboration between director Herzog and Kinski is considered the weakest of the five features. Though the title translates literally as Green Cobra, Cobra Verde was released in the U.S. as Slave Coast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Werner Herzog
- Written By
- Werner Herzog, Bruce Chatwin
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International
- In Theaters
- Dec 3, 1987 Limited
- On DVD
- Oct 24, 2000
- Studio
- Anchor Bay Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Mark Holcomb, Time Out New York
The type of crazed, folkloric epic that Germany's own De Niro-Scorsese duo usually excelled at.
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A.O. Scott, New York Times
The final third of this film contains sequences of horrifying sublimity and ethereal beauty, moments that have a clarity and power beyond the reach of reason.
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J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Verde is too blankly amoral to sustain interest, but the film has isolated moments of haunting poetry.
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Ed Halter, Village Voice
It's easy to understand why this was Herzog's final collaboration with the actor, but Kinski's performance nevertheless serves up a potent confusion of documentary and fiction that has long been an essential element of Herzog's filmmaking.
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, Time Out
Though less apocalyptical than usual, the imagery is as lavish as ever, but the film is wrecked by an underwritten narrative.
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Cast
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Klaus Kinski
as Francisco Manoel da Silva
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King Ampaw
as Taparica
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José Lewgoy
as Don Octavio Coutinho
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Salvatore Basile
as Captain Fraternidade
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Nana Agyefi Kwame II
as Bossa Ahadee
- Peter Berling
- Benito Stefanelli
- Pedro Oliveira
