Aguirre, the Wrath of God

"Aguirre" (1972) is directed by Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo) and was filmed on location in the Peruvian rain forest on the Amazon River. The movie is loosely based on Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) who was involved in a 1560 expedition that left Peru to find the city of El Dorado. Herzog combined this story with another Amazonian journey of Gonzalo Pizarro in 1541-1542. In real life Aguirre was a professional soldier who decided he could overthrow the Spanish rule of Peru with the 300 men on the journey. Aguirre murdered Ursua and proclaimed Guzman the "Prince of Peru", and eventually also murdered Guzman. As with many of Herzog's films the actors were pushed to the limits in the filming of this movie as they had to climb up mountains, hack through thick jungle, and ride river rapids on rafts built by natives. During the filming a storm flooded the river and subsequently buried the film sets and destroyed the rafts. This flooding was incorporated into the movie. The film has a hypnotic quality that takes one down the path of madness and hallucination. Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film "Apocalypse Now" would be influenced by this film's visual style and narrative elements.

This particular version is in English or German, with English subtitles. The movie was originally filmed in English in mono, but the German soundtrack is superior in 5.1 Dolby Digital. The amazingly ethereal soundtrack is by Popol Vuh. This DVD's format is full screen 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

On the eastern slopes of the Andes during the Spanish expedition , Gonzalo Pizarro urges his men to continue through the thick Amazon forests despite the dangers within the dark and humid jungle. The tale of Pizarro's venture begins with an ominous warning as it is revealed to the audience that the only surviving evidence of the expedition is a journal kept by Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, a monk who travels to spread the gospel of Christianity. This bleak foreshadowing induces an inching uneasiness into the mind of the audience. This is enhanced by further looming incidents such as native slaves dying like flies from simple colds and food shortage. The low supply of food leads to a decision to split the group where one group should return for provisions and the other should continue searching for a gold shimmering city. This tale then follows the ill-fated who continue the journey for the legendary city as they are drawn deeper into the cruel world of the Amazon. Deaths of several men forebode the grim future of the expedition, which the leadership wants to call off and return to the safety of civilization. However, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a high ranking soldier, commands a rise against the leadership based on a proud vision of greatness and worldly riches beyond imagination that drives him to thrust deeper into the unexplored rainforest. Aguirre's vision draws the expedition into a personal realm of madness and destruction, which leads to only one certain fate.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God has a lingering effect on the audience as the eerie atmosphere created by Herzog persists from the initial shot to the final scene. There are several components that generate this bizarre ambiance of the story such as cinematography, idiosyncrasies, mise-en-scene, and performances by the cast. The cinematography is simple and sometimes documentary-like, which produces a real feeling. This real feeling together with the uncanny knowledge of the unavoidable doom enhances the extraordinary atmosphere of the venture. The complete portrait of the character Aguirre by Klaus Kinski is nothing but spectacular. Herzog's choice of mise-en-scene is delicately chosen as all the items had to be transported by the expedition. Each item within each frame displays a significant symbolism such as the horse and raft, which adds new layers to the unnatural atmosphere. Lastly, the performances by the cast are outstanding as it is not the dialogue that drives the story forward, but the visual manifestation of their being that elevates the outlandish impression of each scene. When Herzog combined all the aspects of film-making in Aguirre: The Wrath of God he left the world a brilliantly eerie cinematic experience that will leave several notions in reflecting minds.

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.