Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006
Written & Directed by: Werner Herzog
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Helena Rojo, Del Negro, Ruy Guerra, and Peter Berling
Runtime: 100 min
Rating: R
Trailer
Much like Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God details the dangerous human desire to conquer and war with an indifferent nature. Devised as an ill-fated account set in the deep jungles of the Amazon, this brilliant, frustrating, and absolutely stunning examination of madness and desire stays buried in the mind long after it’s seen - forcing the viewer to rationalize a film that is just as untamed and wild as the setting it exists in. It’s the 16th century and after conquering the Incan empire, a Spanish expedition led by Gonzalo Pizarro (Alejandro Repulles) sets off to find the suppositious El Dorado, a city that is reputed to be made of gold. As they encounter worsening conditions in the jungles of Peru, Pizarro decides to send a small group headed up by Don Pedro de Ursua (Ruy Guerra) and his second in command Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) to look for a path to the city ahead of the main force. This doomed expedition, with soldiers, two women (including Aguirre’s daughter), and a slave was never heard from again; and so begins Herzog’s interpretation of that campaign’s final days in the heart of darkness.
After splintering off from Pizarro’s expedition, things quickly go from bad to worse thanks to the horrible conditions, lack of supplies, food, and worsening morale. Herzog captures the ordeal in a gritty documentary aesthetic that employs hand held cameras and natural lighting, all with the power to immediately immerse the audience into the film (Herzog often lets water and mud splatter onto the lens). After Don Ursua decides that they must head back to Pizarro, Aguirre leads a mutiny to overthrow him. He succeeds and replaces Ursua wit a puppet leader as the first Emperor of El Dorado - should they ever find it. Why Aguirre (Klaus Kinski, a regular staple of Herzog’s films) rebels is difficult to understand at first but watching his intimidating thousand-yard stare and his hunched wounded animal-like posture it is impossible not to see that Aguirre is a caged animal who wants to break free and lay dominion over a land he believes he’s entitled to. His primal and destructive instincts are subdued only for his daughter Inez (Helena Rojo) who is brought to eventually populate El Dorado with a “great and pure” nation. As the men’s paranoia and the Indian tribes’ deadly ambushes from the dense jungle increase in frequency, the men build a make-shift raft and float down the Amazon River, recalling the iconic journey of Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. On the raft, the journey doesn’t fare much better; with a lack of food and a gluttonous “Emperor” (who hordes the food while the men scrap over kernels of corn) another mutiny is planned in secret but Aguirre swiftly squashes it, and when he proclaims himself “the Wrath of God”, you absolutely believe it. It is amazing how much Herzog gets out of this production considering the hardships involved in shooting on location in the jungle with only a three-hundred thousand dollar budget and an eight-man crew. The film always feels alive and ready to explode off the screen, especially when Kinski’s weathered and striking face appears in close up (which it frequently does). The dichotomy of nature and man is established in a stunning opening shot featuring hundreds of soldiers, animals, slaves, and Indians descending a foggy path along the side of a mountain. Herzog shoots the scene from a distance that when surrounded by a foreboding and hostile landscape, accents these Conquistadors insignificance. The haunting ambient score on the soundtrack also compliments the poetic images on screen and foreshadows the danger to come.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God is not to be treated casually or as a piece of popcorn entertainment but as both a beautiful and raw examination of humanity’s folly in thinking it can compete with nature. The final image of Aguirre alone on his decrepit raft - with everyone dead around him and his boat overrun with monkeys - reveals nature’s indifference and defines Aguirre’s crazed excursion as an exercise in pathetic desperation. A must see for any fan of unique and thought-provoking films.
Richard X
© Cinephile Magazine, 2006
