Movie Notes: Aguirre, The Wrath Of God

January 13th, 2008

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God

= 4 stars

Starring Klaus Kinski, Helena Rojo, Del Negro
Directed by Werner Herzog

Agurrie, The Wrath of God looks like a documentary, with a constant realism to the cinematography. Director Werner Herzog really did trek his film crew and actors to the jungles of Peru, built rafts that braved the rapids, and yes, all the monkeys clambering about are real and not CGI. The actors faced the danger of disease, famine, and drowning. Kinski wanted to quit halfway through but Herzog threatened to shoot him if he did and then turn the gun on himself. The sense of danger and peril permeates the movie on a basic level.

This bold realism is contrasted by some surreal performances. There isn’t much traditional “acting” save for the main character of Don Lupe de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski). The others look starved, hypnotized, drugged, and lost. The film consists of many first takes with no rehearsal, and at times Herzog himself didn’t know the dialogue ten minutes before a scene was shot. But hey, since the plot concerns a group of lost conquistadors, this may have been an appropriate approach.

The surreal mood extends to Herzog’s direction. Dialogue is absent for long stretches. Brief scenes – usually dead-on close ups of characters – seem completely random and arbitrary, as well as strange instances where the camera holds on a subject (churning rapids) and nothing happens. The end result is a bewildering mix of the surreal and realistic which you may not enjoy. I personally found it mesmerizing.

The plot basically revolves around historical figure Gonzalo Pizzaro who in 1560 and 1561 embarked on a quest for the mythical golden city of El Dorado in the Peruvian rain forests. It’s hinted that the Indians essentially made up this city to send conquistadors on a pointless quest for fool’s gold. So we follow Aguirre, as he seizes power and manipulates his fellow explorers into following him to their doom. He does so through a mix of fear, greed, charisma, lust for power.

Kinski fills the role of Aguirre with a carefully crafted insanity. His lopsided gait supports a face covered with crazy expressions of fear, disbelief, and horror, suggesting something going on in his mind simultaneously passionate and insane.

Fear is plentiful in this dangerous river-jungle populated by cannibals, wild animals, and river rapids. It’s obvious that anybody off on their own won’t last long. Aguirre also pulls off some audacious assassinations to eliminate his rivals, leaving the party with no one else to follow. Aguirre motivates the men by focusing their greed on the gold of El Dorado. There’s also something disturbing in having two young, helpless women along, who wear fine clothes and ride in a sedan-chair while people die around them.

The essence of Aguirre is how people – when beaten down, lost, and trapped – can be manipulated into blindly following a lunatic. Perhaps the party follows because they want to, not by any particular talents of Aguirre. Perhaps they truly want to believe in the city of gold, and even more so when they find no evidence that it exists. The stage is primed for Aguirre to seize power.

Through the quest, the folly of the Western world is evoked at every turn, as the conquistadors remain concerned with matters that have no relevance to jungle survival. The women persist with those regal clothes. The monk Gaspar de Carvajal (Del Negro) tries to convert Indians. The trappings of modern society seem horribly inappropriate and futile.

Overall, I enjoyed Aguirre, but it’s definitely not a “normal” film in any sense of the word. The pacing, the acting, the plot, are all out of the ordinary and one really needs to commit oneself to the experience. I also admit I had a strange misconception that this ended with someone falling over a waterfall, tied to a cross. No, that was The Mission. Whoops.

IMDB: Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Wikipedia: Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Rotten Tomatoes: Aguirre, The Wrath of God 97%