One of the film's highlights is the superb intro. We see a cloudy landscape of the Andes, as we hear a haunting heavenly choir singing. As the camera moves, we distinguish small dots climbing down the mountain, like little ants, but as we get even closer, we figure out they are actually human beings, most of them Inca Indians. This emphasizes one of the movie's central themes : the smallness of man confronted to immensity and wilderness of nature.
Among the Indians, we see also a few Europeans dressed in 16th century costumes. These are Spaniards on their way for the conquest of the new world. A gentleman holds the hand of a noble looking lady to help her in this vertiginous descent. Another blond girl is carried in a porter chair. A monk is also part of the journey. The story is based on the diary of that monk, Gaspar de Carvajal, and is therefore inspired by real facts.
The expedition was led by Pizzaro, the Conquistador of Peru, looking for El Dorado, the land of gold. As the troop arrives at the foot of the mountain, they enter an inextricable jungle and come to the shore of a wide muddy river. As they cannot go further, Pizarro appoints a part of the group to explore the river on rafts. The group will be lead by Don Pedro de Ursua (played by Brazilian director Ruy Guerra), and by Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski). Ursua's wife, Aguirre's daughter and the monk will also embark on the journey.
From then on, the movie becomes a slow-paced drifting on an endless wild river. Not much is discovered, outside hostile cannibal Indians hiding in the rain forest. But the rapacious Aguirre plots with a few of his handymen to take Ursua's place at the head of this hopeless expedition. He takes advantage of the fact that the crew is getting all the time more hungry, desperate and afraid. He fools them with promises of endless wealth. He names a stupid fat gentleman king of El Dorado, but the "king" will be just a puppet into Aguirre's hands, as he is to die soon after his "coronation", possibly poisoned. After that, Aguirre can take total control.
Ursua is eliminated and his wife disappears into the woods. The monk, sole representative of the church, sides with Aguirre without a hesitation. As the journey turns into a disaster, Aguirre gets all the more megalomaniac. While his crew is slowly dying of thirst and starvation, the delirious adventurer sees himself as ruling on the biggest realm on earth, and plans to marry his own daughter to breed a new pure dynasty. Poisonous arrows are shot from the forest, decimating the few survivors, among them Aguirre's daughter who dies in his arms. Aguirre's realm is but an endless wasteland of water and trees, and his only subjects left are squirms of little green monkeys which invade the rafts like rats, but the mad conqueror has already lost touch with reality.
This movie was directed by a German director, Werner Herzog, and it is possibly an allusion to Hitler's taking of power. Aguirre's thirst for conquest has no limits, even if he knows down inside that he is taking his crew on a journey towards chaos, where not even he has any chance to survive. Hist last words are "I am Aguirre, the wrath of God, who else is with me?" German actor Klaus Kinski, who starred in an incredible amount of B-grade flicks, was offered here a golden role, and achieves a brilliant performance, probably his best one ever.
The shooting was visibly achieved in very difficult conditions. First, it was done in natural locations in the Amazon basin, which really means in the middle of wilderness. Secondly, the cast was made up of different nationalities, Germans and South Americans. Last but not least, Klaus Kinski was known as a very difficult actor to manage, and he had a very hostile relationship to director Werner Herzog, who used to call him "my best enemy".
This journey to chaos helps us remind man's insignificance in front of overpowering nature. The feeling of helplessness will lead most to fear and subservience, while a few will deny fear by sinking into megalomania. Because they believe to be invincible, they are believed to be so by the fearful others, and it is often too late when one realizes their madness.
"Aguirre" was made in the early seventies, a time when the Western world, which had regarded itself as the epitome of civilization, was more and more questioned in its self-delusions. The Europeans had initially presented themselves as the ambassadors of God's word to barbaric Indians but they had come to plunder, enslave and destroy. Their real motive was endless greed. Even if we have got used, since then, to hear that type of message, it still remains quite actual nowadays.
Parallels come to my mind between Aguirre and three other movies : "Deliverance", released the same year, also tells about a journey on a wild river with hostile natives in the backwoods; "Fitzcarraldo", filmed a decade later, was a sort of 20th century version of Aguirre also directed by Werner Herzog, and also played by Klaus Kinski; finally, the recent "Downfall" focuses on Hitler's own denial of reality as his country collapses.
Among the Indians, we see also a few Europeans dressed in 16th century costumes. These are Spaniards on their way for the conquest of the new world. A gentleman holds the hand of a noble looking lady to help her in this vertiginous descent. Another blond girl is carried in a porter chair. A monk is also part of the journey. The story is based on the diary of that monk, Gaspar de Carvajal, and is therefore inspired by real facts.
The expedition was led by Pizzaro, the Conquistador of Peru, looking for El Dorado, the land of gold. As the troop arrives at the foot of the mountain, they enter an inextricable jungle and come to the shore of a wide muddy river. As they cannot go further, Pizarro appoints a part of the group to explore the river on rafts. The group will be lead by Don Pedro de Ursua (played by Brazilian director Ruy Guerra), and by Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski). Ursua's wife, Aguirre's daughter and the monk will also embark on the journey.
From then on, the movie becomes a slow-paced drifting on an endless wild river. Not much is discovered, outside hostile cannibal Indians hiding in the rain forest. But the rapacious Aguirre plots with a few of his handymen to take Ursua's place at the head of this hopeless expedition. He takes advantage of the fact that the crew is getting all the time more hungry, desperate and afraid. He fools them with promises of endless wealth. He names a stupid fat gentleman king of El Dorado, but the "king" will be just a puppet into Aguirre's hands, as he is to die soon after his "coronation", possibly poisoned. After that, Aguirre can take total control.
Ursua is eliminated and his wife disappears into the woods. The monk, sole representative of the church, sides with Aguirre without a hesitation. As the journey turns into a disaster, Aguirre gets all the more megalomaniac. While his crew is slowly dying of thirst and starvation, the delirious adventurer sees himself as ruling on the biggest realm on earth, and plans to marry his own daughter to breed a new pure dynasty. Poisonous arrows are shot from the forest, decimating the few survivors, among them Aguirre's daughter who dies in his arms. Aguirre's realm is but an endless wasteland of water and trees, and his only subjects left are squirms of little green monkeys which invade the rafts like rats, but the mad conqueror has already lost touch with reality.
This movie was directed by a German director, Werner Herzog, and it is possibly an allusion to Hitler's taking of power. Aguirre's thirst for conquest has no limits, even if he knows down inside that he is taking his crew on a journey towards chaos, where not even he has any chance to survive. Hist last words are "I am Aguirre, the wrath of God, who else is with me?" German actor Klaus Kinski, who starred in an incredible amount of B-grade flicks, was offered here a golden role, and achieves a brilliant performance, probably his best one ever.
The shooting was visibly achieved in very difficult conditions. First, it was done in natural locations in the Amazon basin, which really means in the middle of wilderness. Secondly, the cast was made up of different nationalities, Germans and South Americans. Last but not least, Klaus Kinski was known as a very difficult actor to manage, and he had a very hostile relationship to director Werner Herzog, who used to call him "my best enemy".
This journey to chaos helps us remind man's insignificance in front of overpowering nature. The feeling of helplessness will lead most to fear and subservience, while a few will deny fear by sinking into megalomania. Because they believe to be invincible, they are believed to be so by the fearful others, and it is often too late when one realizes their madness.
"Aguirre" was made in the early seventies, a time when the Western world, which had regarded itself as the epitome of civilization, was more and more questioned in its self-delusions. The Europeans had initially presented themselves as the ambassadors of God's word to barbaric Indians but they had come to plunder, enslave and destroy. Their real motive was endless greed. Even if we have got used, since then, to hear that type of message, it still remains quite actual nowadays.
Parallels come to my mind between Aguirre and three other movies : "Deliverance", released the same year, also tells about a journey on a wild river with hostile natives in the backwoods; "Fitzcarraldo", filmed a decade later, was a sort of 20th century version of Aguirre also directed by Werner Herzog, and also played by Klaus Kinski; finally, the recent "Downfall" focuses on Hitler's own denial of reality as his country collapses.