by MATTHEW HAYS

When the name Werner Herzog is mentioned, documentary images aren't necessarily the first to spring to mind. Instead, I recall many of his most surreal entries, everything from Even Dwarfs Started Small to his remake of Nosferatu. It's been a strange career, without a doubt.

But after Invincible, his moving and largely overlooked 2001 film about a Jewish strongman who performed in pre-WWII Berlin, Herzog set his sights on the Dalai Lama specifically and Buddhists generally as a subject for a feature-length documentary, Wheel of Time. It's actually a very strong fit. Herzog does not look upon Buddhism as some kind of exotic fix for all the world's problems, though he does clearly have a reverence for the Dalai himself, someone Herzog views as an admirable man of peace.

Herzog's cameras travel to both Bodh Gaya, India and Graz, Austria, for the largest Buddhist ritual, held by His Holiness the Dalai. Herzog manages to get some pretty captivating images, many of them never before filmed, showing us secret rituals of the faith while including a rare interview with the Dalai Lama himself.

Unlike the work of Frederick Wiseman, widely regarded as the grandaddy of cinéma-vérité, Herzog does not attempt to show us the facts straight up. There's no fly-on-the-wall posturing here - we can feel Herzog's sense of the goings-on as the film unspools. And Herzog's been up front about his documentary technique, saying he's true to the spirit of the event, occasionally using reenactments, rather than being a simple "accountant of the truth."

The results are spellbinding. Without ever appearing condescending or into Buddhism in an annoyingly trendy manner, Herzog shows us the religion from a non-judgemental perspective. It's to Herzog's credit that Wheel of Time works so effectively, capturing the peaceful essence of Buddhists and their spiritual leader.

Sadly, a film this complex, that actually attempts to show us something (without ever being didactic) probably won't draw the kind of crowds something as simplistic as The Passion of the Christ has. A real pity.

Wheel of Time opens Friday, April 16 at the Cinéma du Parc

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