Shootings, stabbings, threats of violence, tantrums and near-starvation just an average day’s filming when director Werner Herzog met star Klaus Kinski. This, their first film together, set the template for what was to come over the next 30 years Kinski storming off set, Herzog threatening to kill him and then turn the gun on himself, Kinski shooting the tip of an extra’s finger off, Herzog’s crew going without food while Kinski stayed in a hotel, it was all there.
The resulting film is pretty extraordinary, an insane journey down a river into Kinski’s heart of darkness, and it shares a lot of visual feel and pacing with Apocalypse Now. Here Kinski’s Aguirre is a trooper among a group of conquistadors travelling through South America in search of El Dorado in 1560. Just in case we don’t know, it’s pointed out at the start that the rumour of El Dorado was began by native Americans to get their revenge on the invading Spaniards, but they fell for it.
Aguirre gradually works his way up through the ranks, rather like a Macbeth or Richard III, until he’s in charge of the expedition, and he builds a raft for his troops and daughter to travel down the river towards the city made of gold. He is convinced it’s there, repeatedly quoting the example of the expedition that discovered Mexico, and anyone who doubts him is either shot or pushed overboard.
As Aguirre’s certainty increases so does his madness, and gradually it all begins to fall apart. The food runs out, natives keep hitting his soldiers with poisoned darts, and there is no sign of any gold apart from a tiny piece around a friendly native’s neck. There are hangings, cannon fire and burnings, and it all comes to a shocking ending.
The film is an assault on the senses, an amazing visual feast, especially considering Herzog only had one camera, the one he “borrowed from film school. He decided he did such a good job he never gave it back a fair deal in retrospect. The opening shot, of the troops climbing down a mountainside into the jungle with clouds whispering around them, is stunning, and there are many more visual treats. The music too is highly ethereal, and combined with highly commoted acting it adds up to a gripping experience.
The only downside is the recent revelations from Kinski’s eldest daughter Pola that he sexually abused her as a child. That puts a rather different spin on Aguirre’s closing claim that he will marry his own daughter (played by an actress the spit of Pola) and they will build a dynasty together. That uneasy feeling adds to the film’s overall sense of doom and death. It’s being released as the BFI’s Herzog season, and remains one of his most challenging films.
Overall verdict: Powerful journey into the heart of darkness, with Herzog and Kinski on intense, unmissable form.
Reviewer: Mike Martin
Aguirre, Wrath Of God is being re-released by the BFI. You can find more info here.