Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Written and Directed by Werner Herzog
German with English Subtitles
Viewed on the Criterion Channel
In 1560, the conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro, after destroying the Incan Empire and seizing its riches, has a thirst for even MORE gold. He wants to find the fabled city of El Dorado! But so far, the search has turned up zilch. In a last attempt to discover it, he sends a group of his soldiers and some Indian slaves on rafts to go upriver on a reconnaissance mission. If they have not returned within one week, they will be considered dead and Pizarro will turn back.
Pizarro appoints Don Pedro de Ursua (Ruy Guerra) as the leader of the expedition and Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) as his second in command. In a weird twist, Ursua has brought along his beautiful mistress Dona Ines (Helena Rojo) and Aguirre has his young daughter, Flores (Cecilia Rivera) with him. These two elegant ladies, dressed in fine gowns, have been carried by box litters the whole way through the mountains and are really out of place among these hurly burly grizzled men.
From the get go there is an instant clash between Ursua and Aguirre over who is truly in command. Aguirre undercuts Ursua at every opportunity. And after 1/3 of their men are attacked and killed by natives, it comes to a climax when Ursua wants to turn back but Aguirre wants to continue the search for El Dorado no matter the cost.
This was the first time I have watched an actual fictional film by Werner Herzog. I have always been aware of him but I think the only film I have ever seen of his was the documentary Grizzly Man. And of course I've seen him act in The Mandalorian.
This was also my first time to see Klaus Kinski in a good movie. The only time I had ever seen him act was in horrible 1980s scifi and horror B-movies when I was a kid. He always struck me as really creepy looking and disturbing.
Watching Kinski in this film reminded me a lot of old 1930s monster movies. He walks around dramatically like Dracula and Frankenstein, and stands in a Jim Morrison pose with the right side of his body and head sloping like a limp piece of celery. His method acting made me picture what James Dean would look like if he was hanging from a meat hook. I wondered whether Kinski had some injuries that caused his peculiar walk and I even had to look twice to make sure he wasn't hunchbacked. I always wondered when his character was going to punch someone or do a violent act because he just emoted that so much. But Aguirre, like Hitler, let others do the dirty work for him. He eats up the set but I'm used to German Expressionism. I was really impressed with Kinski and look forward to seeing some of his other collaborations with Herzog.
The film was shot on a small budget on location and you can tell. There are no stunt doubles. So when you see the actors struggling through rapids they really ARE in danger of losing their lives if they sink or fall off the side! I heard legends that at one point Kinski threatened to walk off the movie and Herzog had to convince him to remain by pointing a gun at him! It reminded me of the grueling shoot for the more recent film The Revenant, where the actors really had to suffer in the environment. But at least they had stunt doubles!
Herzog's directing style was at times immersive and at others voyeuristic. You feel like you're in the moment with a lot of handheld camerawork. Sometimes the actors stare directly at you and break you out of your trance but it was never jarring. It almost seemed like the characters were signaling you that there was nothing you could do. You just have to watch what unfolds, as horrible as it is.
I don't know if it was a influence, but to me, there was a lot of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in this movie. And paradoxically, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Conrad in that you have white Europeans confronting a jungle that to them represents the opposite of civilization and conjures up their worst nightmares and madness. Kubrick in that the environment seems as weird and unknown as the moon or Jupiter. You get the sense that Aguirre and the other raft passengers ARE going to another world, almost another dimension, that their minds have no capacity to understand or comprehend.
Brilliant film!
My grade: A+
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