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Director Werner Herzog, who has trekked to the heart of the Amazon and the icy cold of Antarctica, finds even stranger territory in "Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World," in which he tries to explore and explain the internet.
Starting with the history of a small collection of college computer labs (including the University of Utah, by the way) trying to communicate with each other, Herzog talks to researchers trying to figure out where the internet will go next and experts who ponder what the web is doing to humanity.
Working in chapters, Herzog covers both the internet's perils — interviewing the family of a young woman whose gruesome death went viral, or talking to teens in rehab for internet addiction — and its promise, like the possibility of self-driving cars and visits to Mars. Despite his funereal German accent, Herzog ultimately sounds optimistic about humanity's hyperlinked future, even as he highlights the many dangers on the road ahead.
'Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World'
Opens Friday, Aug. 19, at the Tower Theatre; rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some thematic elements; 98 minutes.