i must have seen a different film!!

Captivating movie !

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

In a way quite similar to Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Aguirre, the Wrath of God is primarily about a ride straight into madness. In this case this is due to the obsessive nature of humanity and the indifference one has with other concerns when faced with a promise of riches.It is a colorful, yet eerie and haunting movie because of the eeriness of the soundtrack and the visual deterioration of the expedition ( aswell as the unseen natives picking them off one by one ) as the journey progresses. There is a constant suspenseful silent feel around the film which seems like anything could happen at any moment. In the end it is obviously about Klaus Kinski's character and his greedy psychopathic madness which causes him to keep going on a never ending quest for El Dorado, a mythical illusion symbolizing the emptiness of man's obsessive compulsion.Klaus Kinski is, ofcourse, excellent as the crazed 'Don' Aguirre. His facial acting screams out the word 'madness' ( Quite possibly so convincing because Kinski himself has been described as a madman in real life. ) and his path strays further and further from humanity as the film progresses, eventually even showing indifference to his daughter. Unfortunately none of the other characters are quite as fascinating as Kinski, which makes the film in turn revolve more around him, but he carries it with such conviction that this does not lesser the film's quality by that much. There is little dialogue, and there is a lot of silence throughout the movie, emphasizing the inner dilemma of the question whether 'El Dorado' is even real.The movie's on location shooting results in beautiful shots all the way through. The first one is obviously the greatest one. In the first shot of the film, we see a staggering view of the entire expedition making its way down the mountain, symbolizing how little we are in quest for riches beyond our belief. As a combination of movement and cinematography, the opening scene also has to be one of the greatest and most beautiful openings to a film ever made. One of the slightly lesser qualities of the camera work seems to be Herzog's tendency to film with a moving camera on things like the rafts or at the indian village causing it to become quite bouncy and difficult to see what's going on. This was probably implemented to improve the audience's immersion, but still widescreen shots still seem like the better way to go.It is in the end not about a quest for gold, but a study on how greed affects the obsessive nature of man and changes a man for the worst. This obsession causes man to develop illusions of themselves to neglect any kind of argument that it cannot be real, and this is displayed perfectly in the final stages of the film. With a masterful Kinski performance, excellent on location cinematography ( except for lesser handheld shots ), a great psychology on greed and obsession and a great moral dilemma ( Ursua being the voice of reason, and Aguirre madness ) it is a great film.

If Werner Herzog had made the decision not to make "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", the Francis Ford Copolla's "Apocalypse Now", the greatest war movie ever produced, will not be with us today. This is the first of many collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski and probably acted as the feat which rocketed Kinski to world's attention. Shot with a simple 35mm camera, and equipped with low budget, "Aguirre" is another proof that a film needs not to pretend to be grandiose, and yet be revered and remembered. Although Herzog proclaimed that the story inspired by a book devoted to Lope De Aguirre (a real-life 'Aguirre') is mostly fabrications, historians confirmed that there are events in it which really did happen during the conquest in the 16th century.The movie begins with groups of Spanish Conquistadors (a.k.a. Spanish conquerors) marching down mountains to search for the city of El Dorado. El Dorado is a mythical city; which had been falsely believed that it was occupied with riches of gold. Blinded by greed, these European colonisers could not deny its existence, and set off for the discovery of the city, but to only realise afterwards that the heinous expedition brings not wealth upon them, but only destruction.This is uncommon, but the element which induces the movie's immersive cinematic experience is its music. Right from the beginning, there is something subtle in its score, which I care not to explore, that brings forward ordinary attentions. Herzog's masterful direction in its visual images just further complemented it.Kinski's Aguirre will largely be remembered as a villain for his betrayal and ruthless leadership. But Aguirre, despite his villainous antics and stuff, actually rebels a side that is arrogant and oppressive, instead of a band of people that are honourable, decent and respectful. We all know that the armed-Spanish, when set foot on those South American lands, actually did colonise them, and that is not too bright morally. I believe that, rather interpreting Aguirre as the bad guy like how movie history depicts, it would be more interesting to observe him as a judgement call for the wrongdoings that possibly had been done by the Spanish occupiers. The closing scene where Aguirre is seen to be the only one alive while everyone is dead, just accentuated him as a metaphorical figure.If Kinski had not played the title character, would this picture be still relevant as it is today? I am doubtful if he was merely being himself or not while playing Aguirre but who cares; his depiction as the insane Spanish 'villain' is perfectly fine. Kinski put up genuine intimidation for a man who is cunning, selfish and cold. No matter how strained the relationship between Kinski and Herzog during the filming phase was, their collaboration for the movie is indeed essential.The portrayal of a man seeking for his own destruction is absolutely spot-on. To be able to conquer the city of El Dorado, and exploit its wealth is a short-cut to success. The Spanish, with all their power and sophistication, would had believed that their goals will be fulfilled with ease, even if there is no solid evidence proving the existence of the mentioned city. It seems to me that the sense of superiority has an insidious impact on them, or us in general. Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" is undeniably a more polished picture, but its roots for inspiration which is Herzog's "Aguirre", is a staggering masterpiece of minimalistic and honest cinema.(Cinematicmadness.blogspot.com)

And really there is not much else to say. The power of vaunting ambition and personal magnetism in defiance of all reason. Seems like a highly apposite kind of film to watch in this era. "We will go on, we will persist, we will do this, we will make it happen against all possible reason."As regards the cinematography, yes it's kind of beautiful, yet it's also obviously realistic and plain and un-graded, not lush, not drenched in greenery or blue skies like you might expect from reviews mentioning how excellent it is. Do not expect Avatar style CGI because it ain't here. Herzog's Amazon is a world of brown mud and grey and very muted green.

My expectations going in to this film were pretty high given its critical acclaim and reputation. Grizzly Man is the only other Herzog film I have seen and it happens to be my current favorite documentary of all time, so needless to say I was quite excited to see another film by him. And I'm happy to report that, although on a first viewing I didn't love it to quite the same degree as Grizzly Man, Aguirre: The Wrath of God definitely did not disappoint. I was quite interested to see what Herzog's style would be like as a filmmaker working with his own script and actors rather than as a documentarian. Based only on this film, he definitely seems to have a very deliberate, methodical air to his direction. The entire film is very even-toned and it slides along at a steady pace that feels neither fast nor slow. There is definitely an emotional coldness to the film that feels almost Kubrickian. None of the characters are very relatable or likable; quite the contrary in fact - they are consumed by greed, selfishness and delusions of grandeur, our "hero" in particular. Thus, there is an emotional distance between the audience and the characters that is definitely reminiscent of a Kubrick film.And ironically, despite the fact that I turned to this movie as my first Herzog non-documentary, the film almost feels like a documentary. The way the film is shot with hand-held camera and without any pomp or dramatization makes everything feel so real and authentic. It's very obvious that everything in the film was done for real on location and that is to its advantage as you really feel like you're there with these men rather than just watching a dramatization.This ultra-realism also works very well in bringing the themes of the film through and making them resonate. The film is clearly about man's misguided and even delusional thirst for power. Aguirre embodies this more than anyone in the film - a man with very clear delusions of grandeur who fancies himself a god despite clear evidence that his expedition is futile and doomed to failure. Klaus Kinski gives a spectacular performance in this role which is even more impressive given his relatively minimal amount of dialogue. He just has such an ominous presence on screen, his face perpetually twisted in a snarl, and he becomes almost hypnotic to watch as the film goes on.And it isn't just Aguirre. Essentially every Spaniard in the film engages in treachery at least once, including the holy man who utters one of the most searing lines of the film: "You know, my child, for the good of our Lord, the Church was always on the side of the strong." Ouch. These men commit mutiny, elect "emperors", make grand declarations of land ownership, and hold trials with their only audience being the indifferent tangle of vegetation and the raging river. The realism of the film perfectly captures how delusional these men really are as they parade around with their notions of power and fame in the middle of the jungle. Nothing could be further from the truth as they slowly succumb one by one, lost in a foreign and foreboding land. And their impossible goal of finding El Dorado, the imaginary city of gold, is the perfect metaphor for their delusion. A great strength of the film is that the way this theme is executed feels so universal. Herzog isn't just showing us the madness of these particular men in this particular scenario, he's showing us the madness of man in general. He showing us that these illusions of power are just that - illusions. In the grand scheme of the world and the universe, the titles of men are meaningless and transient.Aguirre: The Wrath of God is a powerful film and an impressive achievement from a filmmaking perspective. However, it is definitely not a movie that is out to entertain or dazzle its audience. It is a film of ideas rather than plot or spectacle. Really the only criticism I can make of the film on a first viewing is that there were some moments of humor which felt a bit out of place given the tone of the film - a man makes a quip after being shot with an arrow or a decapitated head speaks its last word. There is definitely an absurdity to the film and you could argue that these scenes play to that, but I felt these moments perhaps went a bit to far and were too cartoony to mesh well within the film's fabric of realism. Regardless, it's a minor complaint which does very little to sour an otherwise excellent film.