Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)

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Description

Director, Writer and Composer: Werner Herzog
Cinematographer: Thomas Mauch
Edit: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Composer: Popol Vuh

Time: 95 minutes
Language: German
Country: Germany
Release Date: 1972

Plot:

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

Saleh Najafi wrote about this film:
Werner Herzog says, “I love nature, but I love it in spite of my better judgment.” Herzog, a pioneer of the New German Cinema, seems like a disgruntled romantic. “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” tells the story of a 16th-century Spanish conquistador expedition in search of the legendary El Dorado. The narrative is a loose adaptation of the diary of a Dominican missionary named Carvajal. Klaus Kinski shines as Aguirre, a disruptive man with mad and fanatical behaviors who effectively becomes the leader of a group of scouts during an exploratory mission. Determined to find El Dorado, Aguirre leads the group deep into the Amazon rainforest. Aguirre is determined to make his mark on history. Fate and madness are always temptingly close. Herzog has created a historical drama with Shakespearean ambitions. In the film’s opening scene, the camera floats over the Andes Mountains. We see conquistadors descending the Andes along a narrow, treacherous path. They are returning from the conquest of the Inca Empire. This wind of imperial glory soon dissipates. As Herzog approaches the members of the expedition, he uses a handheld camera, a camera at eye level with the group, and when water and mud splash onto the lens, it captures the chaos.
Aguirre is a narrative of the fall of conquest: a review of the path the conquerors took from paradise to the doomsday of developmental madness—Aguirre is the confluence of history and theater, a deconstruction of Shakespeare’s Tempest in Peru, and a contemplation of the possibility that Prospero, driven by the madness of solipsism, would decide to marry his daughter Miranda.

Awards:
National Society Of Film Critics Awards, 1977 (Winner of the Best Cinematography Award)
German Film Award, 1973 (Film Award In Gold for Best Cinematography)
French Syndicate Of Cinema Critics, 1976 (Winner of the Best Foreign Film Award)

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