Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) by Wayne K — 10 Nov 2018

I know it's almost blasphemous to criticise a movie like this, which has become so deeply woven into the fabric of cinema. Unfortunately I feel largely the same way about this movie as I do about 2001: A Space Odyssey, another film you're not in any way allowed to speak negatively of.

The movie has some stunning landscape shots, a simplistic but haunting musical score, and I liked how the environments reflected the mood and state of mind of the characters, whether it be bleak, desolate or violent. Particularly impressive is how the beautiful nature of South America contrasts with the increasingly disturbed mentality our protagonist descends into. Unfortunately this movie is so poorly paced that it becomes very ponderous very quickly. It tries to be moody and contemplative, even when there's very little to contemplate. The dialogue is uninteresting, many of the characters just disappear from the movie without us discovering anything about them, and while Kinski has some great moments, he spends most of the movie looking bored out of his mind. In fact an alternative title to this movie could be 'Klaus Kinski Stares Off Into The Distance With Complete Indifference.' It promises a lot, and I admire how well respected it is, and how much influence it had on movies like Apocalypse Now, one of my all-time favourites, but so little actually happens in the film that probably the most exciting scene is one where a horse gets slightly agitated. Thankfully it doesn't fall into the trap of being several hours long, but even at 90 minutes it feels unnecessarily protracted.