Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (written by)

Release Date:

3 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

Tagline:

On this river, God never finished his creation.

Plot:

In in 16th century, the ruthless and insane Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Plot Keywords:

Expedition | Spanish | River | Power | Amazon River

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	Don Lope de Aguirre
Helena Rojo	...	Inez
Del Negro	...	Brother Gaspar de Carvajal
Ruy Guerra	...	Don Pedro de Ursua
Peter Berling	...	Don Fernando de Guzman
Cecilia Rivera	...	Flores
Daniel Ades	...	Perucho (as Dan Ades)
Edward Roland	...	Okello
Alejandro Chavez
Armando Polanah	...	Armando
Daniel Farfán
Julio E. Martínez
Alejandro Repulles	...	Gonzalo Pizarro
Indianern der Kooperative Lauramarca
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Justo González	...	González
Antonio Marquez
Nastassja Kinski	...	Aguirre's daughter (uncredited)
Gerd Martienzen	...	Don Lope de Aguirre (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Werner Herzog

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Werner Herzog		written by

Produced by
Daniel Camino	....	co-producer
Werner Herzog	....	producer
Hans Prescher	....	producer
Lucki Stipetic	....	line producer

Original Music by
Popol Vuh

Cinematography by
Thomas Mauch

Film Editing by
Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus

Production Management
Gustavo Cerff Abulu	....	unit manager (as Gustavo Cerff Arbulú)
Walter Saxer	....	production manager
Lucki Stipetic	....	production manager

Sound Department
Bob Oliver	....	synchronisation
Herbert Prasch	....	sound

Special Effects by
Juvenal Herrera	....	special effects
Miguel Vázquez	....	special effects (as Miguel Vazquez)

Camera and Electrical Department
Francisco Joán	....	second cinematographer
Orlando Macchiavello	....	second cinematographer
Ovidio Ore	....	assistant camera

Other crew
Ina Fritsche	....	co-worker
Martje Grohmann	....	production assistant
Georg Hagmüller	....	co-worker (as Dr. Georg Hagmüller)
René Lechleitner	....	co-worker

Production Companies

• Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)
• Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Distributors

• Filmverlag der Autoren (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• New Yorker Films (1977) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Národní Filmový Archiv (NFA) (2007) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Applause Productions Inc.
• Ingram International Films
• New Yorker Films (USA) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1982) (UK) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1982) (UK) (video) (Betamax)
• Ripley's Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Aguirre, Wrath of God (UK)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (USA)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

West Germany | Peru | Mexico

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | South Korea:12 (2002) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M (cable rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1991)

Filming Locations:

Aguaruna Lands, Peru

Company:

Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)

Trivia:

The complete crew comprised only eight people.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: One of the main characters in the first part of the film, Gonzalo Pizarro, actually died in 1548 - twelve years before the film is set (1560).

Quotes:

Don Lope de Aguirre: I, the wrath of God, will marry my own daughter and with her I'll found the purest dynasty the earth has ever seen.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Portrait Werner Herzog (1986)

Soundtrack:

Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes (Lacrime Di Re)

The Women

This is an amazing experience, becoming more so the further we get from it. When I see 'Apocalypse Now, or even 'Mosquito Coast' I see this. In fact whenever I see both an actor AND a director/writer risking all in a coordinated way, I see this. And when I see a combination of fictional documentary and highly stylized poses, a memory of this glistens.

I highly suggest a periodic refresh-viewing of this film on a big screen, followed of course by 'Fizcarraldo.' with some life-affirming experience in between. In that film, the jungle and river is engaged, animate: here it forms an organic container for fantasies. This is one of the most visual film experiences you will have, but so much of what you take away is what is not seen. Superficially, it is a depiction of madness in a context of religious colonialism, rank exploitation.

But the complexities abound, and the one that captured me this time around was the women. The first scene is the most promising in all filmdom. In addition to its beauty, we get it all in promises; and among the promises is the women. Two senior-level military men are allowed to bring females on an expedition worthy of Bird or Lewis and Clark - this at extreme expense. The obvious reason for the women is as breeders to populate the New Jerusalem of riches and religious conquest.

One woman we understand, an adult mistress to a noble soul. We learn more about her than anyone else save the 'Negro.' She is played by an accomplished actress, and acts. The other woman is a fifteen year old. A daughter, already aware of a forthcoming incestuous dynasty and resigned to a life with her deformed father in a magical future to be obtained only by passing through a barrier of tests. She, like the local Indians, is played by a non-actress, in fact a girl plucked out of a Peruvian high school nearly at random.

The less she does, the more transcendent her presence. We don't see her die, but as she knows she is dying she looks at her father as if to transfer all her energy to the space immediately surrounding him. That space does become filled with fantastic life on the raft and all that surrounds it, creating the sequence that ends the film. That scene perfectly compliments the first, where the people are the river bringing their seed to the promised land. In the last, the seed is released and the river itself carries the offspring of the imagination to the treetops.

Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 4: Every visually literate person should experience this.