Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Rating:
Summary: Herzog's Visionary Best
Review: In this spare and understated film, wisely stripped bare of spectacle, the collaboration of Herzog and Kinski achieves its full visionary potential. The images in the opening scenes of the conquistadors - incongruously armored and overburdened for their trek, descending the rugged Amazon mountains and staggering clumsily with a large cannon and a sedan chair through dense rainforest - are nothing short of arresting. Their glazed facial expressions speak volumes about the Sisyphean absurdity and futility of their struggle to reach El Dorado. When Herzog's narrator laments, "The Indians we enslaved in the mountains are a mistake. The change in climate is killing them like flies. And we have no time even to give them a Christian burial.", the stage is set for a brutal, tragic outcome. Under the sway of Kinski's mad Aguirre, the Christian sensibilities of the conquistadors quickly devolve into barbarism. Popol Vuh's soundtrack is a perfect complement - at once haunting, brooding, and mesmerizing (somewhat ironically, Popol Vuh is also the name of the sacred Mayan Book of Creation). This is a film to be savored and pondered many, many times.

Rating:
Summary: Profound Meditation From Werner Herzog
Review: An involving contemplation of the human condition, "Aguirre, Wrath of God," directed by Werner Herzog, is a pensive meditation on the nature of the species, an emotionally engrossing film that is visually stunning (it was filmed on location in the Amazon), insightful and imaginatively presented. The story begins in 1560, with Pizarro (Alejandro Repulles) and his army of conquistadors traversing the Andes in search of wealth, as in the wake of the conquest of the Incas some years before, the Indians began circulating stories of the legendary City of El Dorado, which purportedly held riches beyond measure. When they reach an impasse, however, Pizarro commands forty men to continue on down the river by raft, to seek out any Christian civilization that may be of help or able to lead them to their destination. He places Don Pedro de Ursua (Ruy Guerra) in charge, with Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) as his second in command, giving them one week, after which time if they have not returned, Pizarro and the rest will go back the way they came. Among the forty chosen to go on, are Ursua's wife, Inez (Helena Rojo), and Aguirre's fifteen-year-old daughter, Flores (Cecilia Rivera). But when this leg of the expedition goes awry as well, Ursua issues orders that they are to return to Pizarro; Aguirre takes exception to this, however, and rallies the men against Ursua, telling them to consider Cortes, who disobeyed when ordered back, and then went on to conquer Mexico. What the men do not realize at the time, is that Aguirre is a delusional madman with an agenda of his own, that actually has little to do with the acquisition of wealth, but everything to do with what he perceives to be his destiny as the "Wrath of God."

Herzog has crafted an absolutely mesmerizing film that is innovative and transporting. He permeates the story with a hypnotic, ethereal atmosphere that draws you into this world, and allows you to experience the hardships of the river and the nearly insurmountable obstacles of the Peruvian Rain Forests and the mountains. He creates that sense of being in a dream, where nothing is real, all of which is enhanced by the deliberate pace Herzog sets, as well as the haunting score that intensifies Aguirre's descent into madness. There are a number of truly memorable scenes, the most brilliant of which frame the story: The opening takes you along with Pizarro and his men as they negotiate the treacherous mountain paths, plodding slowly through mud and mist against all odds. It's an extended scene that allows the viewer to assimilate the full import of what is transpiring, and with it, Herzog is letting you know what to expect from the rest of the film. It's a breathtaking beginning, rivaled only by the final scene, in which the camera endlessly circles Aguirre as he stands alone on a raft in the middle of the river, expounding his delusions of claiming lands and the conquests that lie ahead still, surrounded by scampering monkeys and an aura of doom.

Kinski, with his natural, haunted expression and the chilling depth of his eyes, is perfectly cast as Aguirre. He captures the very essence of a man whose soul is damned, yet remains adamant in his quest to fulfill what he deems to be his own destiny. Cloaked in armor, his long hair straggling out from beneath his helmet, he exhibits a singular countenance, infused with menace and an attitude of invincibility. It's a powerful performance that underscores the impact of the contrast between the strength of his misguided and paranoid character, and the folly of his actions. That he is unbalanced is obvious fairly early on in the film, and because of that, coupled with his determination, you are quickly able to discern the probable outcome of the story. And it's disturbing, watching and knowing the fate that awaits these people with whom you've become involved, while at the same time, you're somewhat numbed to it all by the wistful state of being into which you have been so subtly lulled by Herzog along the way.

The supporting cast includes Edward Roland (Okello), Dan Ades (Perucho), Del Negro (Brother Carvajal), Armando Polanah (Armando) and Peter Berling (Don Fernando). An honest consideration of instinctual behavior, "Aguirre, Wrath of God," is a thought provoking study of the innate predisposition of man to go forth and conquer, regardless of-- or perhaps owing to-- his present situation, whatever or wherever it may be. It's a rare film that will take you to a place wherein reality is seemingly an illusion reflected in madness, profoundly borne on the artistic wings of Werner Herzog.

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: purportedly an allegory about hitler's hypnotic rise to power and the madness of the nazi regime; but, one gets the sense that herzog identifies with aguirre a bit too much. like aguirre(and later fitzcaraldo), herzog was a maniacal and obsessed artist who did the apocalypse now go-nuts-in-jungle thing a 8 yrs before coppola.
the movie's themes remain ambivalent--even confused-- because nature that is conquered yet also conquers the conquistadores is both magnificently beautiful and ruthlessly brutal. while aguirre may seem mad, the world that surrounds him is hardly saner--the cannibalistic savages, the demoralized and brutal underlings, the jungle beasts, the nihilism of the river that flows along with every mayhem or insanity, as though it's seen and tasted all this before. aguirre, in this light, seems less a perversion than a natural extension of the chaos at the core of all things.

Rating:
Summary: Aguirre the supreme perfection
Review: Werner Herzog was in the seventies togeteher with the unforgettable Fassbinder, the alpha and the omega in the germany filmography of those film makers born at the end of the world war two.
Herzog has always been a high risk director. He liked to walk in the knife's edge in every film he made in those years.
But what Herzog got with this work fullfilled with superb cinematography, edition, casting, script, was something unbelievable.
In fact if you analyze carefully like me , that I 've seen all his following works, it's useless to state this is the masterpiece of Herzog, even Fitzcarraldo, filmed also with Kinski years after.
The powerful script with the Amazonas river as natural frame, the huge realism in that overpower sequence in the river with those men who are caught in circles night and day, that amazing answer who gives the priest as request to Don Pedr de Ursua when he repplies: You'll know that the church has been always with the power, such answer in the midle of the jungle, the trip around the river and the progressive growing of emotional euphoria, the madness, the sense of gretaness in the midle of nowhere, the slow decay of the reality and the final fall with monkees as his loyal servants, the work of camera , makes that film sublime, unique and one of the most supreme examples of how to make a film now and ever.
If you stiil haven't seen this movie, don't waste just any minute of your time and buy it. You'll see like me at least twenty five times and will get always something new, so typical of the masterpieces.
Kinski , in the peak of his craft. There were not enough prizes in the world enough worthy to gratify this performing.

Rating:
Summary: Herzog's visionary film is one of the greats!!
Review: Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God is one of the great achievements of the incredible New German Cinema movement of the 1970's. The film's "story" has been discussed elsewhere on this page so I won't bother to repeat it. But really, this is no plot to speak of. This is a mood piece, a dream of a film. It is a study of power and delusions and if that sounds boring, believe me its NOT. The visuals are extraordinary (typical of a Herzog film). From the films incredible opening shot of a long line of men as they snake thier way down a mountain to the final shot, which is one of the most memorable in cinema, of a mad Aguirre on a raft surrounded by corpses and small monkeys floating down the river. Adding to the dreamlike effect is the eerie music of Popol Vuh. Aguirre is a memorable film experience that you should'nt miss. I commend Anchor Bay for releasing Herzog's entire output on DVD, this a definitely one for your personal library at home. Very highly recommeded!

Rating:
Summary: A Hypnotic Masterpiece
Review: One of the many documentaries circulating around the world film festivals at the moment is 'My Best Fiend', which deals with the often strained love-hate relationship between the German director Werner Herzog and his Teutonic protégé, Klaus Kinski. Both highly egocentric personalities, bordering on narcissism, the documentary highlights the creative frisson at work, as well as the unbridled madness.

'Aguirre: The Wrath of God' is the culmination of their talents and arguably their best work. Ostensibly about the early 16th Century Peruvian expedition for a lost city of gold by the Spanish explorer Pizarro, the actual subject matter is about power and what some people will do to achieve it.

Staggeringly hypnotic and lyrical, this film ranks in my top five films of all time for the simple reason that it is incredibly dreamlike, yet ironically, the most realistic evocation of a historical period that has ever been portrayed on film.

Opening with a sweeping pan over a winding Incan trail, a team of Spanish conquistadors, Indian allies and native American and African slaves, beasts of burden and heavy artillery march down a steep incline. This is 1972 and there is no CGI, no trickery, Herzog actually forced his actors to lug a cannon around the Andes (and much more besides). Almost immediately a viewer will notice the menacing power of nature and the isolation of the expedition party. This isolation is what Aguirre calculatingly plays upon.

After the impressive opening, Pizarro's search for the city of gold (the Cibola of Peru) almost immediately runs into trouble. Uncertain of which direction to strike out for next, he divides his party into two and hands the leadership of the other party to a nobleman and assigns Aguirre as his lieutenant. Aguirre has different ideas of what the goal of the expedition should be, namely that the quest for gold should be replaced with the conquering of a great slab of territory, as land brings power, not gold. He continually undermines the nobleman leader and slowly lets his hunger for power come to the fore. Eventually Aguirre tires of the yoke and mutinies, encouraging others to join him in his quest for power. All the while, the party is slowly travelling by raft down a broad river (an upper tributary of the mighty Amazon?) being slowly decimated by both nature and the local inhabitants. Oblivious to the dwindling party, the mad Aguirre wants to get to the end of the river and carve out his empire, regardless of the consequences. ...

Kinski's performance (as Aguirre) is absolutely first rate and the supporting cast are exceedingly talented, however, the power of the film lies behind the extremely adept way in which Herzog handles the visuals. It truly makes one feel like one is walking with the primitive, dirty, rapacious, immoral conquistadors. These visuals are heightened by the wonderful music of Popul Vuh. A 'Krautrock' band, they nevertheless eschewed the harsh sparseness of Kraftwerk, Can, Neu, Harmonia and Cluster to come up with a far richer more melodic sound. Beautifully mournful organ music and soft pan flute music were used in all the right places to enhance the visuals' dreamlike qualities.

All in all, I can recommend this film wholeheartedly to any lover of cult movies, of history, or of European cinema. It is, however, a very deliberately paced movie and would not be enjoyable to those who are looking for mindless action or who can not appreciate that cinema gives what you take out of it. This film is an 'experience' rather than mere 'entertainment'.

A final note to any readers - this review is based on the cinema/video versions. The DVD has not been released yet and I have no idea of its picture quality or extras (doubtful). I was just so excited that it is finally coming out on DVD, that I had to write this and hopefully get one other person to see it :-)


Rating:
Summary: Herzog and Kinski go Tarkovsky.
Review: Wraith of God was actually made in 1972 in German and got its US debut in 1977 and provided Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) with a vision. The film is pure art through and through using the Amazon River as a backdrop for the epic tale of Spanish conquistadors finding themselves abandoned in South America on a quest to find the legendary city of gold 'El Dorado'. Set a few decades after the Inca Empire has fallen in the 16th century, these troops of Spanish explorers have been selected by the head explorer for the region, and founder of Mexico - Pizarro, to find the lost gold. Within a few days of being on the Amazon the conquistadors are split on the rapids. Soon there is a mutiny, murder, revenge and betrayal as the dreams of vast wealth and power drive all of them to their doom.

The combination of Kinski and Herzog is electric. Here, on a shoe-string budget, they make mountains out of nothing as Tarkovsky did on 'Stalker'. The costumes and sets are all obviously mostly made by the actors and whatever film crew that would actually risk hanging around Herzog and Kinski for the gung-ho shoot. This is kino-art's rendition of Hearts of Darkness. The actual suffering of the film crew (and some cruelty to animals - several horse falling scenes, the pillaging of a village with an attack on pigs and a monkey being thrown aside) is clearly visible in the narrative which borders on extreme adlibbing most of the time as well as hard labour (moving a cannon on a small wagon around the jungle, building rafts with a toilet on board and living off the land). The improvisation though is classic in every sense of the word making Herzog and Kinski instant important additions to the world of high profile art film makers. The cinematography is spot on. The majority of it is hand-held but the images of the jungle are striking and the final shots of the circling raft are sublime. Seeing Kinski chasing monkeys around the raft is also some of the most memorising and breathtakingly remarkable scenes in cinema. The film is one of the most unusual you have ever seen and becomes psychotic towards the final stages showing the craziness of our characters search for the gold - a reflection of the exertions of the crew and actors. Kinski is outstanding as the deranged Don Lope de Aguirre who trying to follow in Pizarro's footsteps even manages to take his family into hell with him. There is an excellent plot element involving a mock trial with a monk as a judge and the crowning of a pseudo-king that will have you in disbelief. The film is so lucidly insane that it will captivate you within the first few minutes. By the time the credits role you will have experienced an epic completed with a few actors, a raft, some animals and natives and yet have witness something as grand and epic as 'Spartacus'. Herzog is a crazed genius and the world is his strange colloid laboratory.

'Aguirre' is up there with the ranks of 'Andre Rublev' and 'Apocalypse Now' however Kinski and Herzog did go one better when they made 'Fitzcarraldo'(they tow a steam ship up a mountain... really!). The aspect ratio of this film is 1.37:1 meaning that it is not in widescreen or letterbox, but it was originally filmed as a square almost (fitting television perfectly). The transfer is extremely good although I believe that this is not a new transfer and was probably encoded from a very good master video tape (Beta SP) for German television broadcast and not from a 35mm film print. No one is complaining though because the quality is extremely good. The extras (documentaries, commentaries) are a must. By the way you can get the Kinski/Herzog box set of 6 films for a few quid extra than this stand alone DVD. Go look for it.

Rating:
Summary: You will be cut into 198 pieces!
Review: "Aguirre, The Wrath of God" is one of director Werner Herzog's most memorable movies, and was written in 2-1/2 day and shot in five weeks. He was 28 years old when the movie was made in 1971 on a budget of $360,000. The film includes one of the most spectacular opening and closing scenes in film history.

Shot in a hand-held documentary style with a stolen 35mm camera (that was used to make 9 movies) there are many catch-as-catch- can takes or extended shots, as well as some stylized, almost still-life shots. Truly impressive cinematography by Thomas Mauck. The film was shot on location is South America, partly near Macchu Picchu (for the dramatic opening), and subsequently takes place on wooden rafts going down the river on an expedition by Spanish conquistadors.

----> WARNING - SPOILERS

In the movie, one raft and some men are lost in the eddy of a river, and more rafts are lost as the river rises overnight. The party divides alliances, and Klaus Kinski, as Aguirre, takes over. They continue down stream in search of food, which they can not find in the flooded jungle. They raid an abandoned village, then continue down stream. At one point, Aguirre rants and raves, then turns and gestures at a horse on the raft, making it collapse. Aguirre orders his opponent killed out in the jungle, and subsequently that man's wife simply walks away into the jungle rather than stay with the rest of the men. Aguirre officially takes charge of the remaining men with a brazen speech involving threats to cut deserters into 198 pieces, then trample them until they can be used to paint walls. Continuing their merry way down river, the men begin to get shot at by spears and arrows from the edge of the river. Eventually Aguirre's 15-year old daughter gets shot and dies in the cleanest, least painful death you will ever see on film. Aguirre finally goes completely off his rocker and annouces to the only living beings on the raft - 400 small monkeys - that he will marry his daughter and start a dynasty to take over the continent.

This is but a brief synopsis of the movie, obviously. It is pretty slow going, but never boring. The location itself is incredible, and Kinski is his usual blustery powerful self. Unusual score, too. In German with substitles, or dubbed in other languges including English. A bit pricey, and not for action-movie afficionados, the DVD has an excellent commentary by Herzog and another film buff.

"If I, Aguirre, want the birds to drop dead from the trees, then the birds will drop dead from the trees. I am the wrath of God!"

Rating:
Summary: horrid excuse for an "art" film!
Review: I don't care what anyone else writes herein; this is a bad film, a poorly made film, and Kinski is overtouted and overlauded as being a "great" actor, where I don't see anything "great" at all! As for the other actors in the film, they're AWFUL. Horrible. I usually never get so irrate about any movie, but after hearing Herzog praise his "artistic techniques" in the commentary, I wondered if he was sane. Werner, please!

While I loved Herzog's film <i>Nosferatu</i>, I seriousely could not understand the fascination with this film at all. Despite this, I do think this could have been a great film when you realise how many possibilities Herzog had at his disposal, but in actuality, it just looks clumsily made; and Kinski, whom I usually find arresting, is only to be found frightening horses and torturing monkeys, all the while gazing in a catatonic stare. (And let me add again: the acting by the other actors is HORRIBLE.)

Poorly made, poorly conceived, poorly acted. The only nice thing about the movie is the music (by Popol Vu) and one or two images of the rafts going downstream . . . otherwise, forget it!!

Rating:
Summary: A Journey Into Madness and Oblivion
Review: Herzog's loose adaptation on an obscure 16th century Spanish expedition that disappeared in the Amazon basin in search of the legendary city of El Dorado. Filmed on location near Machu Pichu with locals as extras, the merit of the film goes into the direction and the acting as opposed to film quality. Produced and directed on a college-level budget (Herzog actually had to steal his alma mater's filming equipment for this film), the film quality is somewhat coarse and similar to cameras and film used for documentary footage. Another drawback is that it's only in mono and has no dolby or other stereo sound options. Despite these technical limitations, Herzog's choices of scenes, pacing, and editing, along with Kinski's superb acting, result in a brilliant film. The theme of unchecked ambition leading to madness and eventual oblivion is beautifully carried by the plot's depiction of how the overconfident explorers, led by their greed, drift, fight, and decay ever further into the wilderness. With King and Church far away, Aguire's promise of gold and power leads a small group of deluded followers to mutiny and eventual oblivion. As their voyage progresses and the further the characters are removed from any shred of civilization, madness seems strangely sane and the unending lust for power somehow satiable. Also visible are the thematic parallels with the megalomanic rise and inevitable destruction of Nazi Germany. The synthesized droning background music adds to the sense of delirium and to the film's dreamlike qualities.