Aguirre, the Wrath of God

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Into the Wild
"Aguirre,the Wrath of God" is a cinematic masterpiece. Masterfully directed by Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski is perfect as the homicidal,power-hungry Lope de Aguirre. The eerie music of Popol Vuh provides the eerie atmosphere. Despite being set in the vast Amazon rainforest, there is a sense of claustrophobia as Aguirre destroys others and then himself. "Aguirre" opens with a majestic shot of the Andes as one of Pizarro's expeditions descends. Pizarro designates Don Pedro de Ursua to lead an expedition to El Dorado (the legendary Cities of Gold),accompanied by his mistress Dona Inez,while Aguirre is a deputy,with his daughter Flores. A monk, Br.Carvajal,narrates the story. Though the Spaniards fear Indians and cannibals,the real danger is among them. Kinski has few lines,subtly menacing as Aguirre who longs for power and wealth. Aguirre's few tender moments are with his daughter. Aguirre's descent into madness is powerfully and subtly depicted. It starts slowly--with the mysterious deaths of conquistadores upon their raft in a whirlpool. Ursua is mysteriously wounded. The obstacles to Aguirre's leadership gradually fall away. In the end,he shows himself to be a true tyrant. His men are reduced to eating river weeds and rationing corn,while he claims that he will "marry his own daughter,and found the purest dynasty ever known." "Aguirre,the Wrath of God" is a cinematic classic. Despite its slow pace, it is meditative and engrossing. Herzog shot it as if it were a documentary (no wonder his "Grizzly Man" is excellent) It ventures into the heart of darkness.

What a letdown.
After reading about this "great, classic, etc" movie for years, I finally laid hands on a copy and viewed it. This is possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. It almost seemed like a joke at times. I do love the arthouse movies, film noir, classics, and other non-mainstream cinema, but I honestly do not get the hype over this waste of time. Avoid it.

Poetical Fanaticism
This was one of a handful of German films that made one think Western Civilization had a chance. I remember well seeing this for the first time back during my college days. We had all been through the New Wave and had grown a bit weary of the French "A Man and A Woman" school of romantic adventurers. This was what we've been waiting for. Serious, operatic, masculine, deep. One felt that German film was making a comeback since the glory days of the 1920s with early Fritz Lang and films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." The masterpiece of mood and implied meanings can be appreciated on so many levels. It is above all an artfully made movie, with beautiful cinematography and a haunting sound track. Kinski is memorably, although one might say he has little to do or say. It is his posture and his silence that play so large here. What a dark, brooding piece. It has been some thirty years since I last saw this marvel but it is not diminished in any way.

Masterpiece
Werner Herzog may just be the best film director of the last forty years. Period. And I mean worldwide. While some directors of film rely primarily on precision- think Alfred Hitchcock, intellect- think Ingmar Bergman and Stanley Kubrick, visual poesy-think Terrence Malick, or visceral reaction- think Akira Kurosawa, there is no other major filmmaker that I can think of who combines all of these things so skillfully, as well as having a mastery of music, outside of Herzog. From musical scoring to narrative pacing to visual imagery, he reigns supreme. Before watching his 1972 masterpiece, Aguirre: The Wrath Of God (Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes), for the first time, all I had seen of Herzog were some of his documentary style films and Fitzcarraldo. This was enough to intrigue me to explore his corpus more fully, and I'm glad I did, for there's a reason this film made him a `name' on par with his contemporary German directors, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders. Aguirre: The Wrath Of God is a film that combines the best elements of such diverse great films as Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Apocalypse Now, although it is a much more visceral work than any of those films, and is topped off by one of the truly great screen performances of all time, with Klaus Kinski as the titular lead, Don Lope de Aguirre, a cripple who may also be a hunchback- whose outer deformities seem to have scarred him internally, as well. While there are numerous other supporting characters that turn in fine performances, Kinski utterly dominates the screen every second he's on it, moving like some perverse and slavering arachnid, moving in for the kill of an insect he will never bleed fully for he will never truly get it....Many critics often opt out of a real discussion of Herzog's excellence in craft by falling back on the old and misguided notion that he simplistically follows his whims and is guided by the same sort of madness he accuses Kinski of always fostering. Yet, any look at a film like this shows that Herzog transcends such myopic claims, even if unwittingly; although I seriously doubt the man who is such a scrupulous artist has ever let a foot of film be released under his name without a bit of wit applied to it. As for the screenplay? It is brilliant, knowing when to let the characters speak, and what they should say, and also relying on chance events, such as a flood which washed away Herzog's rafts. He incorporated that misfortune into the tale. Yet, what the film ultimately says means less than the whole experience, or how it is said through the art. Herzog's small budget becomes a strength when he cannot do overhead shots from a plane, or elaborate crane shots, nor delving close ups that gradually close in on someone, nor elaborate retakes....Herzog admits with justified pride that this film succeeds precisely because it does not follow the Hollywood formula: there is no real hero to root for, no predictable victory to cheer for, no visible bad guys, and no romantic interest for the leading character. Herzog amply demonstrates his superior art in the scene right after Ursua is taken away to be hung. His wife, Inez, who is repulsed by Aguirre, not attracted to him- as would be de rigueur in a Hollywood film, is shown in a shot from behind, simply gazing down at the dark and mystical river. The symbolism is simple, but immense and erotic, in its mix of death and sex, yet we never see her beautiful face, nor her svelte supple body heave. Herzog does not need to tell us that the woman is mourning her murdered husband. He thinks highly enough of his audience to assume that we get that, and also why she then later walks off into the jungle, albeit in a clean golden dress that comes out of nowhere (movie magic, Herzog proclaims in the commentary), sort of like all the stuff the refugees on Gilligan's Island somehow had. Similar scenes, featuring a captured Incan prince, reduced to slavery and interpretation with the natives, and the black slave Okello (Edward Roland- whose character was named after Zanzibarian madmen John Okello, from whose deluded speeches Herzog culled many of Aguirre's speeches), sketch real depths to these characters in only a few strokes. Aguirre: The Wrath Of God is an indisputable masterpiece, and one of the greatest films not only of German cinema, but human cinema. That Herzog directed it when he was only twenty-eight years old is astonishing. Its combination of improvisation- for Herzog loathes storyboards, calling them the `disease of Hollywood', with an almost Bergmanian chamber drama focus on an individual, also makes it one of the most unique films ever crafted. It is a film to be seen by anyone with a love of art, intellect, and human nature, at any age, and in any age.

A true masterpiece
The sheer genius and madness of actor Klaus Kinski are brought to their full potential in support of this tailor-made, abysmal story. Spanish Conquistadors venture in the Amazon in search of gold. But their quest turns out to be more internal than material, with a desperate questioning about power, care, hope, civilization, pragmatism in the face of emptiness in a pristine world. Absolutely breathtaking acting and scenery. A violent, somber, desperate, ruthless but, overall, very human movie.