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Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: December 2nd, 2024.
Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Klaus Kinski
Year: 1972
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Aguirre, The Wrath Of God – Movie Review:
You'd think that when two lunatics head into the jungle to make movie based on an obscure historical figure, with the intent to capture things authentically particularly in regards to location, that things could go horribly wrong. Tempers could flare, egos could clash, a small crew working with a fairly low budget could easily find themselves in over their heads and lives could very well wind up at risk. And in many ways, this is exactly what happened when a twenty-eight year old Werner Herzog cast a fairly unhinged Klaus Kinski as the lead in his 1972 masterpiece, Aguirre, Wrath Of God.
The story begins with one of the most amazing opening shots you're ever likely to see as the camera captures the voyage of a group of sixteenth century Spanish conquistadors, led by Gonzalo Pizarro (Alejandro Repullés), traversing the slope of a Peruvian mountain side in the jungle, heavy fog rolling across the background as a portentous foreshadowing of what's to come. They make their way towards the Amazon River in hopes that it will lead them to El Dorado, the fabled land of gold. The Spanish soldiers and the native guides accompanying them on their trip build rafts and head down the river through rapids, deeper into the jungle. Along the way, a power struggle begins to take shape between Pizarro and a soldier named Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski).
When it is decided that the group while try to head back to civilization, Aguirre pushes back, insisting that they continue on their mission and appointing Don Pedro de Ursua (Ray Guerra) as leader. Some of the men side with him, others do not but eventually he, his daughter Florés (Cecilia Rivera), Ursua's mistress Inez (Helena Rojo), a priest named Gaspar de Carvajal (Del Negro) and a group of followers forge ahead in search of what Aguirre insists is their destiny. The further into the jungle they go, the worse things get for the dwindling group…
With many scenes having been shot in a documentary style, Herzog's film really 'puts you there' in a lot of the film's more intense moments, particularly those that occur on the rafts in the latter half of the movie. As Aguirre's mental state becomes more and more obviously frayed and the men continue to say nothing and go along with him, it becomes evident that there's no way that this will end well for anyone - yet we can't take our eyes off of this even while the jungle seems to encroach around the group and cannibalistic natives, most of whom are never seen attack, from the riverbanks. Aguirre remains defiant through all of this, those at his side obeying as if they were blind to his hubris and his insanity, showing character traits that could be seen as parallels to the way in which Adolf Hitler rallied the Germans behind his own insane cause three decades prior.
In situations such as the one portrayed in the movie, charisma and intensity count for a lot not only in the historical events that inspire this film but in the way in which Kinski plays the character in question. Herzog directed him in such a way as to have him move like a crab and he really does do just that throughout the movie. He also walks with a limp, but never without confidence. He swirls in and out of the frame sometimes seemingly at random and on the brink of exploding and after seeing the film it's impossible to imagine anyone else bringing to the role what Kinski managed to provide. His work here is masterful and it is complimented perfectly by Herzog's directorial style and cinematography by Thomas Mauch. All of this is wrapped up in an ethereal score from Popol Vuh (the band would work with Herzog into the nineties and collaborate with him on some of his finest pictures).
Some thoughts from Horace Cordier from his review of the previous Shout! Factory Blu-ray edition release.
A surreal and beautiful nightmare.
Made under circumstances so hellish that legend has it that at one point director Werner Herzog pulled a gun on his insane leading man, there are very few films that manage to captivate an audience quite like Aguirre, The Wrath Of God.
Aguirre's narrative is simple enough. A Spanish missionary expedition (with a heavily military component) is tasked with penetrating the Peruvian rainforest with two goals: the bringing of Christ to the "savages" and the finding of a mythical city of gold - El Dorado. Much of the early part of the film sets up the characters and their interpersonal relationships, but one thing is clear. These people, virtually all of them, are craven, misguided or insane.
The movie often has the look and feel of a documentary. It seems a kindred spirit to Apocalypse Now as well. Aguirre is a film about insanity and greed but it is also about intellectual and spiritual arrogance. Even the slightly kindly in manner leader Gonzalo Pizarro (Alejandro Repullés) is really a monster. He may talk about sending a priest to bring God to the natives, but in the next breath he's splitting up his expedition into groups whose real mission is finding gold. The party is also heavily loaded with slaves who are routinely abused physically and mentally. The sight of cannons being hauled through waist high mud while conquistadors hurl verbal abuse at the slaves is disturbing and surreal. One of the most loathsome characters in the film is the priest named Gaspar (Del Negro). He piously yaps about Christ while dreaming of gold crosses around his neck. His hypocrisy is often called out by the soldiers but they are hardly better. In fact, when Kinski's Aguirre leads a mutiny many of them are thinking of riches and women. Even the slaves are mostly reprehensible - they dream of possible freedom and will happily slaughter any native in their way to get it.
Aguirre has a lot on its mind and Herzog makes his points brilliantly. A strong message about the folly of forced religious conversion and guerrilla warfare is there. The resisting natives are rarely seen - but their arrows are. Canons get bogged down in muck and are rendered useless. Horses and manpower are wasted trundling fat Spanish royals and mistresses around in idiotic canopies. That Nietzsche warning about the abyss is here too. Aguirre looks into it and it looks right back into him, consuming the man. For a movie so antagonistic to religion (at least the state sanctioned, organized kind) it really is extraordinary how biblical its moral thrust often is. Pride goeth before the fall. And when Kinski's Aguirre falls it is brutal. The final sequence of this masterpiece manages to be a perfect storm of biting pitch black humor and genuine horror. A madman ranting, alone, surrounded by chattering animals.
As for Kinski's performance it is important to understand a little about the man himself. He wasn't an eccentric. He wasn't a lovable crank either. He wasn't even really an "actor" the way we traditionally understand it. It would appear that he suffered from delusions of grandeur as well as severe mental illness. But he was functional. And certainly aware of what he was doing. Any serious study of Kinski's work brings one thing to the fore quickly. He was intensely charismatic. But his range was limited - he could never play a sympathetic romantic lead or shy bookworm. He was also impossible for a director to control because of the whole lightning in a bottle aspect. The genius of Herzog was his recognition of Kinski's strengths and his perfect casting choices for him. But even Herzog couldn't stop the violent eruptions (Kinski drew blood on other actors during Aguirre). Hence that infamous gun incident. AGUIRRE is Kinski's greatest performance because Kinski - in real life - WAS that character. He had a God complex. He treated his children abominably. He was violent. Watch him closely in the film and you see the barrier between character and actor disappear. Pure madness shines from Kinski's eyes. At one point, his character sways in time to the tones of a native's flute. I have never seen an actor so "in the moment" in any other film.
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God – UHD Review:
The HEVC encoded 2160p high definition transfer, framed at 1.33.1, on this UHD release from Shout! Factory is taken from a new 4k transfer taken from the original 35mm negative and presented in Dolby Vision, and it looks very strong. There are tiny instances of minute print damage here and there – white specks and the like – but overall, the image is in excellent shape and retains plenty of natural film grain throughout. There isn’t any obvious noise reduction and the increase in detail and texture is noticeable right from the start – you’ll notice this in the velour material of a dress, the cracks in leather uniforms and the rust and dirt on metal helmets. There’s consistently impressive depth to the image, from the opening shot of the crew sprawling across the mountain trail to the closing shots of Kinski on the raft – and the image always looks like proper film, avoiding compression artifacts, noise reduction and edge enhancement problems.
Audio options are provided in German language 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio in 5.1 Surround Sound and 2.0 Stereo options and in a 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo in English. Optional English subtitles are provided. There’s a tiny bit of distortion now and then and the odd crackle in the mixes but overall, all three tracks are clean, clear and properly balanced. The score has excellent depth to it, not just in the 5.1 mix where it’s spread out nicely into the rear channels alongside some effects, but in the 2.0 options as well while dialogue stays clean, clearly and nicely balanced throughout.
Extras on the UHD are limited to a pair of archival commentary tracks, starting with a track featuring Herzog and moderator Norman Hill that was originally released on the Anchor Bay DVD years back. For those who haven't heard this track before, it's pretty much essential listening. Hill is smart enough to let Herzog do most of the talking, but when the director clams up here and there (it doesn't happen often) he's got a smart question or observation at the ready. As such, we get a lively and very informative track as we learn how the director made the movie with a stolen 35mm camera on a budget of $360k and a small team in the middle of a South American jungle. Herzog, of course, shares some great stories about working with the temperamental Kinski, talking about how he had to threaten to kill the actor to get him to cooperate and discussing how Kinski fired at some of the extras with a rifle when they were making too much noise one night. He also discusses the contributions of the other cast members, talks about the difficulties of working with a large quantity of tiny monkeys, the intricacies of sedating a horse, how Herzog considers storyboarding a 'disease of Hollywood' and why you must soldier on for the film after being bitten one hundred and fifty times by an army of fire ants. It really is a great dissection of the film that covers the locations, how certain shots were achieved, multiple near death experiences and working with native tribesmen who tended to drink and fight a lot when the cameras weren't rolling - it's fascinating stuff.
The second track, in German with English subtitles, has Herzog teamed with collaborator and distributor Laurens Straub and it is a pretty interesting exploration of the film and the themes that it deals with, going more into an academic dissection of the picture rather than the more detailed making of style discussion that the first track offers. They cover how Straub came to distribute the movie, what inspired the movie, the use of music in the film, Herzog's intent to make an ethnological film in the jungle and the difficulties involved in shooting on location, risks that were involved in almost every scene, the use of actual Indians in the film, inserting cultural frames of reference into he film, working with the notoriously difficult Kinski and what makes his performance in the film so unique, the anti-authoritarian streak present in the movie, how the movie influenced but differs from Apocalypse Now, why the 'enemy' stays hidden for so much of the movie and plenty more.
The included Blu-ray disc features a 1080p presentation taken from the same new remaster and includes those same two commentary tracks as well as a theatrical trailer for the feature and a still gallery.
This release also comes with a slipcover.
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God – The Final Word:
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God holds up remarkably well, a legitimate triumph of filmmaking and a flawless showcase for the talents of both the film's director and its leading man. While it would have been nice to get some new extra features included here, the two archival commentary tracks are very worthwhile and the 4k presentation for the film is excellent – highly recommended!