Dad and I watch a movie from our movie collection every Friday night, unless of course we forget that it’s Friday. That happens more often than you think. The Friday before last, we watched a black and white film by Werner Herzog entitled Auch Zwerge Haben Klein Angenfangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small). It’s a German film made in 1970 about you guessed it, dwarfs.

The film was banned in Germany, as anarchistic and blasphemous, and the director earned death threats for portraying dwarfs as monstrous. I read somewhere, I can’t recall where, that the movie was smuggled out of Germany disguised as other movies.

The plot of the movie is simple: Some dwarfs confined to an institution have been denied the pleasure of leaving on an excursion with others and rebel against the director of the institution, who is also a dwarf. They break windows and dishes, set a truck to drive in circles, have food fights and cock fights, look at dirty magazines, set fires, kill a pig, crucify a monkey, and tease some blind dwarfs. Oh, I almost forgot the laughter. Not just laughter. Dwarf laughter. Crazy, cackling dwarf laughter. OMG.

This was the second time I had seen this movie and the first time, my reaction was shock! This time I knew what to expect. I couldn’t help but laugh my damn fool head off. Of course, there were some really boring moments but once you start watching you won’t want to stop! Below are some video clips and the full movie, found on You Tube. Oh, before I forget; Be prepared for subtitles, unless of course, you understand German. I understand some, but I still appreciate the subtitles.

Watch the full movie here, if you dare! The link below will take you directly to You Tube. I guess they want to make sure kids don’t see it. Probably a good idea!

Have fun and Happy Monday!