Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Jack L — 26 Jun 2010

Before watching this film I had very high expectations of it, it is said to be Herzog's masterpiece and an "essential" film.

When I finally got around to watching it I was surprised, it was not at all what I had expected, but I was also mesmerized I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

In this review I will attempt to explain why.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD......

The film begins with an excellent shot of a column of spaniards and their "Indian" slaves descending the Andes and entering the great Amazon jungle. They are led by Pizarro and are searching for El Dorado "The City of Gold". Amongst them is Brother Gaspar de Carjaval a missionary in charge of bringing the word of god to the natives, and Lope de Aguirre a disturbing and rather cruel professional soldier accompanied by his daughter.

Pizarro's column soon finds it impossible to continue and the decision is made to send out a group of about 50 men under the command of Don Pedro de Ursua. Aguirre, his daughter, Brother Gaspar, a nobleman named Guzman and Ursua's mistress all form part of this group.

The group set out on rafts down the Amazon but soon run into trouble and end up losing some men and the hands of unseen natives. After this Aguirre openly rebels against Ursua's authority who is then wounded. The mutiny complete Aguirre proclaims Guzman emperor of El Dorado which they have yet to find.

As they continue down the Amazon more and more of the men are killed by native arrows as is the new Emperor.

After about a month the men are scared, exhausted, starving and delirious. Aguirre keeps them going but is gradually veering into insanity himself.

One day the natives attack and all the survivors are killed by their arrows including Aguirre's daughter and the Missionary.

Aguirre then completely loses his mind and proclaims himself The Wrath Of God and is last seen standing alone amongst all the corpses of his companions.

The film is narrated by Brother Gaspar, the missionary supposedly seeking to convert the natives but who also seems very keen on getting to The City Of Gold.

The direction was excellent, the enormity and pending danger of the Amazonian forest are captured extremely well. Many of the shots are so incredibly powerful and well executed I wanted them to go on forever.

The pacing was somewhat strange: there is long and beautiful shots of running water yet when something important happens it happens very fast and can easily be missed.

The gradual deterioration of the minds and the conditions of the group is fascinating to watch .

The omnipresent threat of the "Indians" was very atmospheric and just adds to the overall atmosphere which is poetic yet haunting.

The plot was very strange, it starts out as a quest for El Dorado but as the film progresses you get the sense that it is more of a struggle against nature to survive.

A thing that struck me often was the absurdity of the conditions and the way of life of these spaniards, they wear armor and carry pikes, they hold trials and sit on makeshift thrones, they are waited on by servants, all this while there life is in danger and their chances of survival would be considerably greater if they adapted to the way of life o the natives.

Their formality and constant signing of decrees and annexing of territories all seemed so out of place and strange.

The dialogue is sparse and often rather cryptic, apart from the useful narrative of the Missionary. The shots of the Amazon and the jungle are far more eloquent than the words of the men. Even though towards the end some extremely memorable dialogue can be found such as:

-"Anyone considering desertion will be cut into 198 pieces.

Then trampled upon until he can be used for painting walls".

Overall the dialogue is original and poetic yet completely faded out by the wonderful visuals.

The soundtrack was excellent from the beginning to the end, I especially liked the native music played by the slave. The piano and voice music used during certain scenes really adds a lot of emotion, such as the hanging scene.

The acting was very good all around, of course Claus Klinski was amazing but I also thought that Del Negro did a very good job as the Missionary. Klaus Klinski performance is good but not overly remarkable at the beginning of the film but by the end when Aguirre has fallen into complete madness he steals every scene with his outstandingly intense performance.

The characters were all very well developed and pretty much all unlikeable, even Brother Gaspar who represents the Church is unlikeable man who cowardly sides with Aguirre even though he knows he's insane.

The characters all slowly descend into madness and despair and the nobler men are soon killed off by the other who are hungry for gold.

Overall this is an amazing experience and I'm looking forward to seeing it again very soon. This film has it's share of flaws but personally I was spellbound, I found it hard to take my eyes off the screen.

Highly recommended for Herzog fans, even though this film will not be to every ones taste due to it's strange story and trippy direction I strongly recommend it for anyone looking for anything different from the usual stuff.

Cinematography 9/10.

Acting 10/10.

Soundtrack 10/10.

Plot 9/10.

Screenplay 9/10.