Ghost Elephants

Mad scientists and explorers are the favorite protagonists of Werner Herzog’s films. This time, the director focuses on the search for giant ghost elephants, a distant relative of which is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Dr. Steve Boyes tracks a herd hiding from humans in Angola, in uninhabited lands the size of England that the locals call the end of the world. Herzog documents his protagonist’s obsessions, dreams, and flights of fancy, asking whether it might be better for these elephants to remain beyond human reach and function as the titular spirits. Is the tribal leader, who grants permission for the search, right when he says that the fate of the elephants is directly linked to the fate of humans?