Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes)
Directed by Werner Herzog
Written by Werner Herzog
1972/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime (free for members)
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[on the dangers of filming Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) on location] You know, I’ve filmed in Black Africa, and during the shoot I was jailed five times in a row, I had malaria, we almost died – nothing scares me anymore, neither a jungle nor a Klaus Kinski, nor costumes, nor being with hundreds of Indians. There were in fact extraordinary difficulties, financial problems too. When you see the film, it looks as though it must have cost $2 million to make. But it cost maybe a tenth of that. — Werner Herzog, 1973

Who needs a budget when the dream, the vision, the obsession, and the scenery come free?

The year is 1560 and the setting is Peru.  Hundreds of Indians and Spaniards descend the Andes.  A rag tag team of explorers is deputized by conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro to make a voyage down the Amazon in search of the fabulous rumored treasures of El Dorado. Pizarro chooses Don Pedro de Ursua to command the expedition and Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) as his second-in-command.  The team is told it will be presumed lost if it does not return within a week.  For some reason Ursua elects to travel with his wife and Aguirre takes his 15-year-old daughter.  Within perhaps a day it becomes obvious that this particular stretch of the Peruvian Amazon is not survivable.  Ursua wants to return to Pizarro but the insane Aguirre insists on pressing forward.

So Aguirre stages a mutiny and proclaims the fat, lazy, aristocrat Don de Guzman as the Emperor of El Dorado.  Ursua is wounded and the entire troupe floats down the river, suffering the onslaught of hostile Indians, tropical heat, rapids, and disease toward glory or death.

From the opening scene of hundreds of Indians and Spaniards descending the Andes, this film is one indelible, incredible image after another.  It is is an epic emotional, visual, and sonic experience.  When man battles nature in Herzog’s universe, nature always wins.  And nature is a cruel mistress.  I think this movie is a masterpiece even if I cannot explain why.  A must-see in a year of must-sees.

I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like to make this film living on rafts on the edge of insanity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCVeM68kHSY