Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Ola G — 23 Oct 2010

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca empire, a Spanish expedition led by Francisco Pizarro leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon river in search for El Dorado, the fabled Andean city of gold. The caravan includes Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a greedy, ambitious conquistador who will stop at nothing in his quest for power and gold. Soon, they come across great difficulties and Aguirre sees his chance and takes charge of the expedition. The question then arises, will his quest lead them to El Dorado, or to certain destruction?

Werner Herzog and his visual achievements has been on my list for years, but I have never managed to see any of his movies until now. I would say that "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" is part madness and part genius. Herzog´s documentary style shooting and the obvious difficult situations he managed to put his actors through, is intriguing for sure. However, at the same time the very unpolished result makes it partly humourous as well, which was not the idea I reckon. Kinski is solid and intense as Aguirre. He is Aguirre. "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" doesn´t deserve a 5 star in my opinion, but Herzog´s very unique way of directing gets a 5 star rating from me.