Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1972 Director Werner Herzog

Based on the real-life journals of a priest, Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, this film is the most famed collaboration between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Shot entirely on location in the Peruvian mountainous jungle it presents the viewer with stunning vistas of this most hostile environment.

Exhausted and near to admitting failure in its quest for riches, the 1650-51 expedition of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro becomes bogged down in the impenetrable jungles of Peru. As a last-ditch effort to locate treasure, Pizarro orders a party to scout ahead for signs of El Dorado, the fabled seven cities of gold. In command are a trio of nobles. Traveling by river raft, the explorers are besieged by hostile natives, disease, starvation and treacherous waters. Crazed with greed and mad with power, Aguirre takes over the enterprise, slaughtering any that oppose him. Nature and Aguirre's own unquenchable thirst for glory ultimately render him insane, in charge of nothing but a raft of corpses and chattering monkeys.

Kinski delivers an inspirational performance as the power crazed Aguirre. This coupled with the breath taking scenery that he finds himself in makes this a powerful and evocative film.