Fata Morgana (1972)

The purest dose of Herzog as image-maker. Shot across the Sahara and the Sahel, it turns desert mirages and heat haze into a three-part creation myth, with Lotte Eisner reading from the Mayan creation story over the top and Leonard Cohen songs drifting in. It began life as a science-fiction idea about a dying planet, and you can still feel it. There is no story and barely any information, so treat it as a mood piece. Watch it once you know you like the voice; it shows where his landscapes-as-philosophy habit began.