Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Muhammed A — 07 Aug 2012

Aguirre, Wrath of god- A cinematic testimony about The true face of human beings.

Men have always routed and willed to go in search of Vast Riches. However rich a man may be he is astounded by the presence of something in this world that can make him more richer. No man is self satisfied by the things he has with him, but rather he plaintively envies the neighbours rich assets. Humans are a strange form of beings who enjoy fighting among themselves for money , land and women with profound sadistic amusement . Aguirre , Wrath of god is a movie about spaniards going in search of the mysterious Eldorado gold mines. As the name suggests this movie is enigmatic from the first shot depicting a vicious cloud and men as small as toys coming down through those translucent clouds. These men are of no interest to the gold but are rather forced to go because they are servants of the Holder of the throne. We see barefooted Indian slaves chained carrying the luxurious mistress and the tender daughter of fifteen years old. Their faces are filled with anger and agony on having to have suffered as slaves under Aguirre and Ursula the two second in command to Pizarro the leader of the expedition. Ursula more calm and subtle ushers them without contempt or anger but Aguirre shows disdain and bitter anger to even the harmless slaves. Pizarro on account of the obstacles and extreme hardships decide to send forty of the best for the expedition from the shore. Ursula is chosen as the commander and Aguirre the second. As the rafts are filled with the forty people including slaves and soldiers, we see misfortunes befalling the group . One of the rafts goes into a treacherous whirlpool and returns with the men dead and then Aguirre much to the dismay of Ursula fires that raft with a cannon. A day passes by and strangely the rest of the rafts are found missing. New rafts are ordered to be built but Ursula knowing that the expedition is a suicide orders the crew to return but then Aguirre tells the story of Hernando Cortez's daring conquest of Mexico and rejuvenates the capsized crew . He takes command and orders the murder of Ursula and anyone who's on Ursula's side. Ursula after a gunshot at him Woes silence till death and is taken to treatment by his mistress. Aguirre becomes paranoid and mad from then on. What we see then is harrowing and outrageous atrocities of Aguirre. Aguirre proposes himself the wrath of God and slashes off a man's head when he's counting the number of bends in the river in order to escape from death. The movie is hypnotic and psychotic from then on. What we see then is the strange events resulting due to egoistic and paranoid attitudes all through the crew. The movie written and directed by Werner Herzog is enigmatic and extremely disturbing. The movie's not driven by dialogue but it speaks for it's own when Aguirre with his blue eyes and distorted stature looks at us with contempt and disdain.Laden with dark photography the valley of Peru and the amazon forests are pictured with picturesque beauty amidst the melancholic and terrifying aura all through the movie. The movie's psychotic sequences are literal stupefiers. They petrify and scare you so much that the ludoweeko experiment in 'A clockwork orange' would have been a mercy. The mental shock you experience after the movie is so hallucinating that it can give you nightmares for days and days. Herzog employs sublime music from the first long shot of the hazy mountains till the Psychotic end sequence. Herzog manipulates our minds and fills it with strange hallucinations. This brilliant movie is so disturbing that to watch it a second time would be a daring act of true valour. The movie ends with Aguirre standing on the raft all alone suffering from fever and experiencing hallucinations from starving. Aguirre becomes the true wrath of God when all the people around him die Mercilessly and he has none but a group of monkeys to help him conquer the world. As when paranoia got into this man he not only destroyed himself but also created feud between the crew and became The prodigy of devil on earth. Disturbing, hallucinative, hypnotic and horrifying this movie may give you chills of a lifetime and provoke your deepest thoughts. Herzog Explores the visual power of Cinemas by making your mind burn and writhe with unbearable pain and fear .