madness and corruption

His films like 'Repulsion' and 'Chinatown' masterfully explore psychological unraveling and systemic corruption through unreliable protagonists and morally compromised worlds.

Herzog's obsessive focus on obsessed characters and civilizations consuming themselves—as in 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'—reveals madness as both individual and institutional collapse.

His methodical examinations of corruption in 'Se7en,' 'Zodiac,' and 'The Social Network' expose how madness and moral decay permeate institutions and individual ambition.