Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)

This director is absolutely crazy but he makes fantastic films.

Now HERE is a film! The 1972 Werner Herzog opus Aguirre: The Wrath of God would have to count as one of my favorite movies of all time. I first saw this back in the mid-90's on a poor quality VHS tape. The picture kept fading in and out with the brightness factor, and I don't think it was a very good transfer. But I was hypnotized by this film, which I had never seen the likes of before. And now, all these years later, after seeing it on this dvd version, it's even better than ever. To sum up the plot: Several Spanish Conquistadors journey into the jungles of South America, to find the supposed lost city of El Dorado. An entire city made of pure gold. Eventually they decide to break up the party into sections to facilitate better chances of finding the mythical city. And right about there is when the film descends into a different kind of heart of darkness. Not exactly Willard going down the river to find Kurtz, but related in a way. (In fact, this film was a significant influence on Apocalypse Now). And Aguirre has a way of weaving a dreamlike spell on you which is often the hallmark of a truly great film. This is also the first collaboration between Herzog and the one and only Klaus Kinski. He is mesmerizing every time he is on screen. How could he not be? As the Conquistador determined to conquer the entire continent, and other imaginary realms, he is a force of nature and is never to be forgotten. The stories of Kinski and Herzog clashing on the set of this film, as well as the other 4 they made together, as justly part of film legend. But the feuding (wonderfully documented in My Best Fiend) pays off cinematic dividends here like never before. In the end, this movie works for the moments which stick out like lucid bits of an endless dream. The soldiers caught in the river rapids. The severed head which manages to get out one more word after it's chopped off. The woman who just disappears into the jungle like she never existed. The horse left behind in a bend of the river. The native piper playing on the pan flute. The entire ship caught up in a tree (or is it). And even the bird calls you hear every now and then throughout the film, which I could swear are the same ones you hear in Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo. (Another all time masterpiece). Plus don't forget the haunting soundtrack by the European Prog-Rock group Popol Vuh. It has to be one of the great underrated movie soundtracks of all time. And the ending! Wow! Aguirre: The Wrath of God is considered a cult film, and I am one who worships at that particular alter. It is not a particularly arty or pretentious foreign film, which is good for the newbies. But you do have to surrender to the pace and flow of Aguirre, in order to "get" it. But it is worth it in every way. The dvd also contains a priceless audio commentary with Werner Herzog himself in English. You get to hear many great anecdotes about the making of the film, and it proves Herzog is one of the most fascinating directors as far as the commentary on his films goes. So if you love maverick filmmakers who would just go into the jungle to make an epic, not knowing if they would ever come out. If you pine for a time long past when a theater would show an Ingmar Bergman film, an Irwin Allen disaster film, a Clint Eastwood flick, and the latest offering from New Hollywood. If you love a movie that just goes somewhere mysterious, a place somewhere between dream, history and nightmare. This is a film that has to be seen to believed. Absolutely recommended.-------------------------------PEACE

THE FILM:Here I review the "Aguirre The Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) [NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain]" version. And I must disagree with the international accolades heaped on this film, which I had seen before on VHS. It's a very good film. But is it a great film? Err, no.Much is made of Klaus Kinski's performance in this film, and much should be; he carries the film on his shoulders, no question. That's part of the problem though. There are other characters, but so little effort is made to develop them, they all turn out to be interchangeable arrow fodder.Likewise those hostile natives casting those arrows. We hear much talk about them, we see their arrows, we see people shot and killed. But we get barely a glimpse of the hostile natives. Director Werner Herzog, I think, wanted them perceived as part of the "natural" world being "invaded" by these conquistadors. Some sort of anti-colonial/anti-imperialist/pro-ecology message? Maybe Herzog knows, but the viewer does not.Nonetheless, for all the script's weaknesses, the film lives and dies by Klaus Kinski. His performance is terrific, magnificent, and above all real. Seems a shame more care wasn't given early in the script exploring his character either. Herzog's direction in the final shot, when the camera circles the raft on which Kinski is the lone survivor, while Kinski's character muses over the great fortune that awaits him, is the real payoff of the whole film, and the sole bit (in my opinion) that justifies the film's vast reputation.So this is a very good film, in my opinion, but not a great one, as is often said.THE DVD:This print is widescreen and very clear and pure looking, but also quite dark in many segments. That's likely because of the location-shooting limitations, but there it is, anyway. The disc includes as Special Features only Filmographies of Herzog and Kinski, both of which are incomplete.The Amazon listing, which I have copied and pasted above, says "Reg.2 Import - Great Britain." Region 2, of course, includes all Europe, not just the UK. Be that as it may, this disc is a fine argument in favor of overdubbing. I know all the arguments in favor of subtitles instead, thank you, and I agree with them, largely. Here, though, all the characters are supposed to be Spanish conquistadors, and yet we are hearing them clearly speak modern German while we read the English subtitles. Tell me, which part exactly would be lost in translation, if we simply got the dubbed-English track once available on VHS?I recommend BUY if you have enough interest in this title to be reading user reviews. You likely already know what to expect. But remember, you need a DVD player that can play Region 2 discs.

Llegó 2 días antes de lo esperado.Muy buen estado (tanto caja como disco). A diferencia cómo lo dice en la caja no incluye lenguaje aleman (solo en el trailer) y una raya verde que está debajo de la pantalla, no es molesto pero si desconcentra a veces.Si te gusta comprar películas de drama, de Herzog o Klaus Kinski está es una opción barata y viable.

Low-budget, yes, but an astonishingly crafted and hypnotic look at hubris and ambition. The style of the film is very like a documentary, matter-of-fact in its depiction of a small band of Spanish conquerors whose reach exceeds their grasp. The obsessed Aguirre, played by Klaus Kinski, is an extraordinary anti-hero, a mixture of Richard III and Alexander the Great.

I liked

The copy I received is clearly not genuine. It is a very poor quality copy spoken in German over the original English, and with English subtitles. I was looking forward to watching this with my family and after a few minutes we realised we'd been sold a pirated copy.

Not a true story. So just fiction. If you take this on board, it is quite absorbing.