Aguirre, the Wrath of God

(1972) Written and directed by Werner Herzog; Starring: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro, Peter Berling and Cecilia Rivera; Available on DVD 

Rating: ****½

“I am the great traitor. There can be no greater! Whoever even thinks about deserting will be cut into 198 pieces! And then trampled upon until you can paint the walls with him. Whoever eats one grain too many or drinks one drop of water too much will be locked up for 155 years! If I, Aguirre, want the birds to drop dead from the trees, the birds will drop dead from the trees. I am the Wrath of God! The earth I walk upon sees me and quakes! But whoever follows me and the river, will win untold riches. But whoever deserts...” – Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski)

“… I would have spent the entire budget in three days working in the studio, and of course, there was something authentic about the jungle which can’t be fabricated. You can’t create jungle in the studio. You have to go out there, and the story takes place in the Peruvian jungle; you have to go there. There’s no alternative to that.” – Werner Herzog

The purported feuds between Werner Herzog and the volatile actor Klaus Kinski* are legendary, most likely embellished to some degree by both parties for dramatic effect. But no matter whose account you believe, Kinski was notorious for being temperamental and difficult to work with. Despite the acrimony between the two, chronicled in Herzog’s stellar documentary, MyBest Fiend (1999), they somehow managed to put aside their differences to make five films together, starting with Aguirre, the Wrath of God. The script was written in 1971 on a tour bus in two-and-a-half days.** The then 28-year-old director set out with a crew of eight to shoot his low budget epic (budgeted at $380,000) on location in the Peruvian jungle, with the cast and crew living on rafts. Keeping the production on track was no small feat for Herzog, as he contended with limited food and supplies, managing Kinski’s wild rants,*** and near tragedy.**** 

* Fun Fact #1: Herzog was 13 when he first met Kinski, who occupied the same boardinghouse in Germany. 

** Fun Fact #2: A few scenes were lost from Herzog’s first draft of the screenplay when one of the soccer players he was traveling with vomited on his typewriter, along with several pages of the script. 

*** Fun Fact: #3: According to Herzog’s account, Kinski fired his Winchester rifle at a noisy hut full of extras. Thankfully, no one was killed, but one extra lost a fingertip. 

*** Not-So-Fun Fact: Herzog’s life and career were almost cut short on Christmas Eve of 1971, when he was taken off the passenger list to Cuzco at the last moment due to a change in routes. Later that day, the same plane he was supposed to take disintegrated in mid-flight, with all aboard killed, except for one teenage girl (chronicled in Herzog’s 1999 TV documentary Wings of Hope) 

The opening scene on a fog-shrouded mountain (Huayna Picchu) sets the tone for the rest of the film,* as conquistadors and their slaves** traverse treacherous mountain paths, which subsequently claim several lives. Don Pedro de Ursúa (Ruy Guerra) is appointed leader on their quest to the golden city of El Dorado by Gonzalo Pizarro (Alejandro Repullés), along with his second-in command, Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski). Accompanying them on their journey, against the better judgment of Pizarro, are Ursúa’s wife Inez de Atienza (Helena Rojo) and Aguirre’s teenage daughter Flores (Cecilia Rivera). But it doesn’t take long before Aguirre, who doesn’t agree with his superior’s leadership, conspires to displace him. Aguirre chooses Don Fernando de Guzmán (Peter Berling) as emperor for the new land they hope to discover, but he’s at best, a figurehead who will comply with Aguirre’s machinations. Aguirre’s team travels down the tumultuous Urubamba River in rafts, while fending off attacks from unseen natives on the shore.   

* Fun Fact #4: Herzog stated that most of the footage was filmed on a handheld 35 mm camera, stolen from a film school in Munich. 

** Fun Fact #5: Herzog hired 450 indigenous people from the highlands as extras.

Despite the behind-the-scenes drama (including a shooting spree by an enraged Kinski),* it’s easy to admire Kinski’s mesmerizing performance, as a feral, malevolent force of nature. Instead of using makeup or prosthetics to depict the disabled Aguirre, Kinski portrayed his character’s infirmity through body movement. As directed by Herzog (or Kinski’s idea, depending on which story you prefer), Aguirre scuttles like a crab or spider, in a side-to-side motion. His uneven stance suggests a twisted body, with one arm longer than the other. He matches his unpredictable motion with an equally mercurial demeanor. While surprisingly tender to his daughter, he reserves his savage energy for his men. 

* Fun Fact #6: Kinski commented in his hyperbolic autobiography on his working relationship with Herzog: “…He doesn’t have the foggiest inkling of how to make movies. He doesn’t even try to direct the actors anymore. Long ago, when I ordered him to keep his trap shut, he gave up asking me whether I’m willing to carry out his stupid and boring ideas.”

In stark contrast to Kinski’s scene-stealing performance, Mexican actress Helena Rojo chose a more subtle approach as the beleaguered Inez de Atienza. She contends with the disgrace of her husband’s imprisonment, along with the ever-increasing madness of Aguirre with quiet dignity, although her eyes and facial expressions suggest another story. After experiencing one injustice after another, she simply walks into the jungle, clad in her finest dress, vanishing without a trace. 

In his DVD commentary, Herzog made it clear that this was not a history lesson, but a fictionalized account (including real historical figures) about Spanish conquistadors, their plunder of the New World, and subsequent ill-fated quest for the fabled golden city, El Dorado. While he didn’t hide the fact that most of the story was fabricated, his documentary-style approach creates a “fly on the wall” experience, as if Herzog traveled back in time to 1560 to capture a forgotten piece of the past. There’s a sense of immediacy that transcends fiction, to create its own reality. While adhering to a more naturalistic approach in general, Herzog incorporated sequences that are pure poetry. In one scene that exemplifies the vanquished and their once-proud legacy, a slave laments that he was once royalty, with no one permitted to look directly upon his face. In another scene, a soldier’s loud proclamation to overthrow Aguirre is met with swift retribution. In the midst of counting to ten, he’s cut off (quite literally) with his decapitated head finishing the count. It’s a surreal scene that doesn’t reflect reality, but it’s unforgettable nevertheless. Herzog’s crowning achievement is the haunting climactic scene with Aguirre alone on his raft, his plans in tatters, surrounded by scores of monkeys (although I doubt Kinski’s simian-tossing would win any awards from the ASPCA). 

* Fun Fact #7: Herzog purchased 400 monkeys in Iquitos for the scene. The monkeys were later released in the wild, rather than sold to another buyer.   

* Fun Fact #8: For the scene where Aguirre and his men encounter the remnants of a cannibal village, Herzog adorned the village set with a real mummy, which was somehow acquired by his brother.

The road to ruin is paved with imaginary gold. Aguirre, the Wrath of God illustrates how a cult of personality, fed by the empty promise of untold riches, can lead a group of people to insanity and their ultimate ruin. Aguirre’s cult almost parallels Herzog’s obsession with filming his vision, regardless of the peril and hardship involved.* But there’s a method to Herzog and Kinski’s (alleged) madness. Although historical accuracy takes a back seat to art, Herzog somehow manages to capture the veracity of the setting, purveying a fiction that’s more truthful than pure fact. 

* Fun Fact #9: Perhaps as a final insult to injury, Herzog recounted how the exposed negatives of his footage (intended for developing at a lab in Mexico City) were lost. He feared that his movie was gone, only to have the lost reels discovered on top of a pile of trash at Lima airport. 

 

Sources for this article: Shout Factory Blu-ray commentary by Werner Herzog; Kinski Uncut, by Klaus Kinski; Every Man for Himself and God Against All, by Werner Herzog