Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes

Aguirre, The Wrath of God is a very peculiar film. A work with a strong theme and, for me, a mysterious hypnotic power. It's not a gripping film by any means, but as a whole it works. Herzog portrays the Spanish adventurer Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), who recklessly pursues his idea of success and wealth, even at the cost of the destruction of the members of his expedition, and gradually descends into madness. The film flows very slowly, probably like the river on which Aguirre's expedition sailed. If it's true that the actors didn't know their dialogue ten minutes before shooting a scene, it shows a lot in the film. The actors really look at times as if they don't know what to play, they resemble members of an amateur theatre company, but Herzog built everything on the demonic appearance of Klaus Kinski, who didn't even have to act much, it was enough that he IS. Some moments seem quite surreal (the bizarre scene with the severed head), sometimes even comical (e.g. the black man on the raft says "That is no ship. That is no forest", then an arrow flies in and buries into his leg, the black man remarks with stoic calm "That is no arrow", Kinski comes running and shouts "These arrows are real!" and fires the cannon right next to the black man's ear, which puts a big smile on the black man's face). Anyway, I give it four stars, the film really had a mysterious effect on me (maybe thanks to the dreamy hypnotic music), to the point that I was curious the whole time to see what would come next. Certainly, a film worth watching. (28.06.2005)

Herzog captures how a quest for fame and immeasurable wealth turns into a manic depressive pilgrimage in a very believable way, relying on basic filmmaking techniques, simple camera rides and shots of beautiful sceneries, next to which he let the crazy face of the insane Klaus Kinski stand out, which in this case was really worth a thousand words. The thought that the likes of Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki could have extracted much more voluminous cinematic art from the subject matter weighs on me, but even the minimalist Aguirre is an ageless visionary work with its aggressive psychological approach... 80% (02.02.2016)

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes und der Wahnsinn eines Mannes. Es ist ein perfektes Werk, dank dessen ich sofort die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Werner Herzog und Klaus Kinski mochte. Beide haben perfekte Leistung gebracht, und wer nicht damit einverstanden ist, wird in 198 Stücke zerhackt, auf denen solange rumgetrampelt wird, bis man die Wände damit streichen kann! (25.04.2018)

The blending of the reality of filming with the story being told is palpable here. An obsessed Herzog drags an exhausted film crew through the Peruvian jungle, capturing their exhaustion and setting it in the context of the universal futility and doom of human ambition. And in the process, he and Kinski fight over a gun. God knows how many people actually died in the making of this film; and sometimes you never find out. If Coppola was inspired by Aguirre when making Apocalypse Now, he couldn't have been surprised that it went the way it did. (22.03.2021)

This is a film that definitely won't appeal to everyone, but thanks to how confident Werner Herzog is in his directing and how unique Klaus Kinski is in his performance, I have to admit that this is simply a movie that is worth seeing. Some scenes - which were filmed in Peru - are truly beautifully grand and cameraman Thomas Mauch deserves applause. (20.08.2015)