Herdsmen Of The Sun

Different concepts of sexual beauty and mating rituals find expression in Werner Herzog's HERDSMEN OF THE SUN, a documentary about the Wodaabe, a nomadic tribe that tends its herds in the south Sahara where the borders of Mali, Algeria and Niger meet.

The film opens with intertitles discussing the mysterious origins of the Wodaabe and a note that they consider themselves the most beautiful people on earth. A tracking shot reveals a series of heavily made-up and exotically dressed Wodaabe, seen from the neck up, so that their actual sex is ambiguous to inexperienced eyes. A few minutes later, when the camera turns to a group of women, we learn that the previous ...