Cheap Aguirre, the Wrath of God (DVD) (Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra) (Werner Herzog) Price

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Customer Reviews of Aguirre, the Wrath of God

"Aguirre" is based on a true story of a band of Spanish conquistadors searching for El Dorado. The actual expedition was ill-fated, and so, the film inevitably ends in a gloomy fashion. But what a fascinating film it is! The film follows Aguirre, one of the conquistadors, who eventually assumes control of the expedition and who slowly descends into madness as the expedition runs into disaster after disaster. Along the way, we are presented with a multitude of astounding, almost hallucinatory, images. For instance, the film opens with an incredible shot of a long line of soldiers and their caravan/bearers as they weave through the thick forests; the camera pulls back in a single take and we suddenly realize that the trail must contain perhaps hundreds of people along this dangerous footing. The effect is quite similar to that at the beginning of Charlie Chaplin's "Gold Rush" where we see a never-ending line of hundreds of Klondike prospectors along a snowy path. It's quite astounding, especially when you consider this was all shot on location; the difficulties and dangers portrayed on film were actually encountered by the actors and filmmakers. No special effects, here.

I would highly recommend this film to anyone interested in German cinema and one of the greatest of the recent German directors. Five stars!

Aguirre the supreme perfection
Werner Herzog was in the seventies togeteher with the unforgettable Fassbinder, the alpha and the omega in the germany filmography of those film makers born at the end of the world war two.
Herzog has always been a high risk director. He liked to walk in the knife's edge in every film he made in those years.
But what Herzog got with this work fullfilled with superb cinematography, edition, casting, script, was something unbelievable.
In fact if you analyze carefully like me , that I 've seen all his following works, it's useless to state this is the masterpiece of Herzog, even Fitzcarraldo, filmed also with Kinski years after.
The powerful script with the Amazonas river as natural frame, the huge realism in that overpower sequence in the river with those men who are caught in circles night and day, that amazing answer who gives the priest as request to Don Pedr de Ursua when he repplies: You'll know that the church has been always with the power, such answer in the midle of the jungle, the trip around the river and the progressive growing of emotional euphoria, the madness, the sense of gretaness in the midle of nowhere, the slow decay of the reality and the final fall with monkees as his loyal servants, the work of camera , makes that film sublime, unique and one of the most supreme examples of how to make a film now and ever.
If you stiil haven't seen this movie, don't waste just any minute of your time and buy it. You'll see like me at least twenty five times and will get always something new, so typical of the masterpieces.
Kinski , in the peak of his craft. There were not enough prizes in the world enough worthy to gratify this performing.

The doomed quest for El Dorado
I am new to Warner Herzog, and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is the 2nd of his films that I have seen. Like many directors with strong artistic visions, I have found his style a bit hard to adapt to but I am appreciating it more and more. The grotesque colors he uses are particularly noteworthy, lending a feeling of unreality that contrasts with the naked realism of his films. The visual images are haunting, and linger after the film is over. The Wrath of God and 400 little monkeys...

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is by no means an easy film to get into. The characters are brutal and uninviting, and it is impossible to sympathize with their plight, the conquest of the native peoples. Like the river they travel on, the armored conquistadors move slowly but relentlessly forward, pieces of their humanity and sanity falling off along the way. At one scene in particular, the soldiers dispassionately watch their fellows trapped in a river eddy, discussion whether or not they should attempt a rescue with no more urgency or care than wondering if they should have coffee or tea. The peruvian natives are equally unsympathetic, picking off the soldiers slowly from the jungle, invisible and dangerous. One can see the influence it must have had on"Apocalypse Now."

People call this film dreamlike, and that maybe, but it is also brutally realistic, dirty and harsh. There is a sense that this is exactly what it would be like. There is a definite sense that animals were harmed during the filming, and that people were harmed as well. No camera trickery or artistic license is taken. All deaths are ignoble. Klaus Kinski, as Aguirre, is an uncharismatic Richard III,. slightly hunchbacked and ugly, leading his followers down a mad path that can have only one destination.