Cobra Verde

Released Jan 1, 1988

1h 50m

Drama

List

83%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

76%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

Francisco Manoel da Silva (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. Francisco goes to great lengths to befriend the very people he hopes to enslave -- eventually managing to overthrow a mad monarch and set himself up as king.

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Mark Holcomb

Time Out

The type of crazed, folkloric epic that Germany's own De Niro-Scorsese duo usually excelled at.

Rated: 4/6

Mar 24, 2007

Full Review

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.

Rated: 4.5/5

Mar 23, 2007

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Verde is too blankly amoral to sustain interest, but the film has isolated moments of haunting poetry.

Mar 20, 2007

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Kinski lends burning charisma...

Nov 10, 2023

Full Review

Octavi Marti

El Pais (Spain)

In Cobra Verde, Herzog is an imitation of himself. [Full Review in Spanish]

Apr 7, 2020

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The underwritten dramatization is saved by the stunning surreal visuals.

Rated: B-

Jun 6, 2015

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Kevin L

There's only one Werner Herzog and perhaps only one Klaus Kinski. This is not one of their finest achievements together, but it has its moments where the film rises above exploitation and formula. The nun's choir is something, esp. the lead. Still not sure what to make of this one. For now, 3 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/27/23

Full Review

andy f

Wow. For the last time Herzog and Kinski combine and Cobra Verde is equally as good as their other collaborations. Herzog always has a crazy balance - you are never quite sure whether he's highlighting an issue or being (unintentionally perhaps) exploitative. The same questions are always asked of Kinski, who snarls his way through this, one of his last performances. Unforgettable.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

peter w

There is no shortage of passion and colour in this film but it all feels strangely distant, partly because of the discomfort of seeing the ills of colonialism, and partly because of the exaggerated portrayal of all of the characters, and, because the slaves are objectified it is hard to even empathise with their unspeakable treatment. In the end, even the Green Cobra's regret is ambiguous: is it really about the mistreatment of slaves or is it about the failed mission.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

andres s

Starts out pretty obscure but then the story picks up and gets interesting. Kinski seems like a guy that can become very irate and almost crazy. You can see it in his eyes. Pretty peculiar little guy that bar owner who ends up telling Kinski's character stories about snow and the moon. What an incredibly beautiful shot with Kinski in the ocean holding the bottle and the sky looking like cotton candy. The whole deal with the sugar plantation and the owner is crazy. Apparently he's getting these darker skinned women pregnant. You can tell Francisco feels really out of place being there. Wow, Francisco aka Cobra Verde has become quite the little conquistador now having all these slaves from Africa. The architecture of the kings house looked super interesting. It was like African but also modern. That song that the African girls sing towards the end was really charming. The musical score is beautiful and meditative giving the movie a feeling of mysticism and grandeur. Herzog really knows how to pick beautiful spots to film. It makes os much sense now seeing that Herzog does documentaries now; he's been making them ever since the beginning. The way he films things, cultures and people in a very candid and naturalistic way. It's very unique and almost unbelievable how Herzog is able to capture things in a very documentary-like feel. It feels like this is how it would be to be alive around the 1800's. This movie was similar to Aguirre in its subject matter and tone, this one was just weirder and odd. Really good social commentary on the slave trade that existed back then but its message gets muddled with distractions.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Merrick S

Deserves a place alongside Aguirre: Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, other thematically similar Herzog-Kinski collaborations. Based on Bruce Chatwin's The Viceroy of Ouidah, Cobra Verde is a modern Heart of Darkness realized with Herzog's usual commitment. Criticisms that it is "amoral" presumably find Kinski's typically deranged portrayal of a slaver to be insufficiently depraved. I suspect it is only American provincialism which prevents recognition of this rich spectacle as a true classic of world cinema.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/23/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Between 2.5 and 3 stars. Good scenarios, Kinski is always interesting also with not such a strong personality as in other stories (but close). It would need some more strength and narrative pulse, but it is not bad.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Werner Herzog

Director

Klaus Kinski

Francisco Manoel da Silva

King Ampaw

Taparica

José Lewgoy

Don Octavio Coutinho

Salvatore Basile

Captain Fraternidade

Peter Berling

Bernabé

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Synopsis

Francisco Manoel da Silva (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. Francisco goes to great lengths to befriend the very people he hopes to enslave -- eventually managing to overthrow a mad monarch and set himself up as king.

Director: Werner Herzog
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog, Bruce Chatwin
Production Co: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1988, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 2016
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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