Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Alexey F — 29 Apr 2011
Everything that I hold dear in cinema has been sacrificed here for the performance of filming - the symbolic meaning of the actual experience of the crew.
They are not your hedonistic bunch running around with oversized Starbucks cups - they did actually go to the jungle and lived through the journey. I admire that.
The result is, among other things, unsettling, eccentric camera work (meaningful to some as driving home some kind of point), a highly symbolic storyline overflowing into unbearable histrionics (with symbols fit to be served as drawings on the theatre curtain) and horrible dubbing (no doubt due to the magnificent company of international actors).
Not my kind of movie (although I am actually interested to see more of Herzog).
And yes, dear critics, the score is "haunting", and the atmosphere is "morbid" and death is everywhere, and Kinski is irresistible with his unbending knee and flexible mouth, and colonialist madness is very bad. That doesn't make me happy about having seen this.
This review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) was written by Alexey F on 29 Apr 2011.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God has generally received very positive reviews.
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