"I am the great traitor. There must be no other"
Werner Herzog’s 1972 Adventure-Drama stars his regular
collaborator, Klaus Kinski in the role of Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre who
in 1561 while on an expedition in search of the mythical
The film’s central themes of lust for power and riches as
well as madness and delusion are fully explored in this sparse and bleak film.
Kinski can be seen delving deeper and deeper into a frenetic, maddened state as
his followers become more disillusioned and his situation becomes more
desperate. It is shot in such a way that it often feels like a documentary.
There is very little dialogue, plenty of beautiful shots of the Amazon and its
surrounding jungle and many of the characters look directly down the camera
lens as though they are talking directly to the audience.
Klaus Kinski in the central role is superbly menacing but
understated. In fact the entire film is understated and eerily calm. No fuss is
made about a death or even an explosion. It is as if the cast treated these
incidents as though they were happening to someone else. Everything feels
distant.
While I enjoyed the film, it is not something I would
recommend to most people. It is extremely slow and will not be to most people’s
tastes. It also suffers from an unfortunate dubbing problem. It was filmed in
English as that was the only common language of the cast, but then dubbed into
German. As a result, the dialogue never matches up to the audio.
Unfortunately for the film as with so many of Herzog’s Feature
Films, the story behind the making of the film is more interesting than the
actual film. You can really see the effort that went into making it. Every inch
of inhospitable jungle that the cast and crew trekked was real and there are
stories of Herzog directing Kinski with a gun to his head and of Kinski, in a
rage, shooting off the finger of an extra. Many of the problems that the
production faced were actually incorporated into the film!
Herzog’s ability to capture a madman on the precipice is
unmatched and he has done it time and time again. This is one of his best
examples of that. Aguirre has been
placed on many ‘Top Film’ lists and while I didn’t like it enough for that it
will be a treat for any Herzog fan and the sort of film that people should try
if they are feeling on the adventurous side.
5/10
