Aguirre: The Wrath of God

A couple of years ago I was floating down a ferry boat through the misty forest of Vancouver Island; it was a three hour trip across the river. The day was cloudy, cold, and dark, we were expecting rain, yet the scenery was eerily beautiful. There were heavy mountains on both sides of the river, all covered with forest greens, and light fog gliding through the tops of them. It was a serene and peaceful trip, but the picture of nature that day made it look foreboding. At times it felt as if we were the only boat on the river, and an uneasy feeling of isolation gripped me. What I was remembering in my head were the images I had seen in "Aguirre: The Wrath of God"; the same greyness in the air, the same haunting dreamy quality, a beautiful nightmare of madness personified.

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" isn't usually qualified as a horror movie in the strictest sense, but it fills me with the sense of dread and doom for its characters as any one could. Only the horror in this film seems much more real, it's main character must surely be one of the greatest monsters in movie history. The horror here inhabits the madness people are driven to as they try to obtain power and glory.

The story is set in 16th century Peru as it follows a Spanish Expedition's quest to find the ancient city of El Dorado. The opening shots of the film show the explorers struggling in the jungle, they must carry with them, horses, a cannon, and two ladies in waiting. They have Indian guides to help them, and one black slave; but it all seems so futile, they are not fit for the jungle. The leader of the group can see this, he doesn't see much point in going on, still he selects a small group of men to carry on the expedition up river, perhaps with the hope of more luck. He puts a Spanish nobleman named Don Pedro de Ursua in charge, with his second in command being Aguirre (Klaus Kinski). Other people in the group will consist of a priest, who keeps a diary throughout the journey, Ursua's mistress, and Aguirre's young daughter.

As the journey begins there is almost no question of the doom, the group has in store for them. They divide eachother into three rafts, one of which gets caught in a whirlpool, and they can't snare themselves free, Ursua makes the gesture of sending a party to save them, but it is all for naught. As the morning approaches, all the people in the raft are dead.

Soon mutiny is in the air, lead by Aguirre, Ursua is wounded, and Aguirre nominates a glutinous soldier named Guzman to be their new leader. Aguirre is still second in command, but it's obvious, he is the one pulling the strings, he will not relent in the journey.

Other things happen along the way, there are attacks by natives, a run in with some cannibals, and soon starvation, fever, and death. This was a destiny that was pre-written for them at the very beginning; a lost cause, which is driven by men's mad determination to defeat nature.

At the heart of this film is the character of Aguirre played with mad vigor by Kinski (Kinski himself has had flights of madness in his lifetime on many occasion). Aguirre is perhaps the most dangerous of men, a madman with power, and an insane quest of obtaining more. He is ruthless with his men, not caring what it takes to reach his goal; the only creature he cares for is his daughter, with whom he carries an incestuous affection for. The close-ups of Aguirre are all you need to know what he's thinking, Kinski gives him a walk that is somewhat lop-sided, that reminds one of Shakespeare's "Richard III". Aguirre can be thought of as the personification of all powerful, and evil men who have sacrificed innocents in their mad search for glory, and or immortality.

The film was directed by Werner Herzog, who is definitely one of the greatest living filmmakers we have today. Many his films deal with characters who's madness either bring them to the brink of destruction, or destruction itself."Aguirre" was his first important film, and perhaps still his greatest, it's more a film about images, and atmosphere, than one about people. Aguirre is mainly a man of evil than anything else, I'm not sure there is anything else there, Herzog makes that known, particularly with the final images.

I remember seeing the film at a young age, and not quite grasping what it all meant. I had heard of a movie about a journey to find El Dorado, expecting maybe a harrowing adventure tale, but instead I got a deeper, unsettling experience. There are moments in the film that feel like they are out of a dream, and occasionally Herzog captures nature's beauty throughout all the dread, but perhaps that comes from the delusion that the men will actually find their city of Gold.

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God", continues to haunt me, with it's mood, it's atmosphere, and the face of Klaus Kinski. It's a fierce film that doesn't let you go, it's a whirlpool, a nightmare, but it's hypnotic in a strange and beautiful way. I can say without exaggeration, its images have stayed with me, and they can lock me into its world like no other film.