Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Cj W — 28 Nov 2013

Aguirre, The Wrath of God is one of the most intellectual and harrowing films ever made. And also, may have the most bleak outlook on human nature than any other film I have seen, but nevertheless, it is a monument in filmmaking and one of the best films ever made.

Werner Herzog wrote, produced, and directed this medieval fable about Spanish Conquistadors in search of El Dorado. The story is simple enough, a group of men are sent out by Pizarro to find the city of El Dorado, and no doubt, it turns out to be a much harder task than expected.

But Herzog makes this film so much more than that, this film is a study of the emptiness of men's actions in a world where they have denied God and the awesome power of nature. The music is really an essential part to this film's greatness, as it gives the film a tone of desolation, isolation, and madness.

Aguirre is the main character, and he is honestly one of the most insane men in cinema's history; he has completely abandoned the notion of God and nature, in his world, he is the wrath of god. Aguirre is alone in his pursuits, without nature and God, and without those things, he is left only to strive for wealth, power, and fame, because he seeks only earthly gains, he has no spiritual or philosophical pursuits.

He is an utterly empty man, with no meaning to his life, and a cold, hard soul. The whole film you watch Aguirre slowly go insane, and become overrun with his hunger for power and gold. And this all leads to one of the greatest final scenes ever to be in a film, a scene where Aguirre is alone on the capuchin monkey infested raft, talking to himself about how he and his army of monkeys will take over all of the New World, but the monkeys will not obey him and he is eventually left alone to float down the river to his inevitable death.

This is one of the most haunting visions of man in literary or cinematic history, and is essential viewing for any film buff.