Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Dir: Werner Herzog

1972

*****

Werner Herzog's epic Aguirre, the Wrath of God is one of the greatest films ever made. Herzog wrote the script in just two and a half days after reading just half a page of a book he borrowed from a friend about historical adventurers. The story contains factual historical figures but the events are almost all fictional. Herzog recalls that only half of his original screenplay was used as the other half was lost when a man sat next to him on a bus vomited on him and as he couldn't remember what he wrote or indeed the ending of the film, he decided to just make what story he was left with. Herzog famously left film school after only a few days, taking the schools camera with him. Having never watched TV or a film, Herzog argued that it made him a much better storyteller and I'm not sure you can argue with that. The budget was just $370,000 with a third of that going to lead actor Klaus Kinski. Kinski was Herzog's first choice to play Aguirre, claiming that he was the only person who could project the character's madness. Herzog first met Kinski many years before when the young actor rented a room from his parents. Herzog recalled the many frantic outbursts Kinski would inflict on the family and it left quite a mark on him. Aguirre, the Wrath of God would mark the first of five celebrated collaborations between the director and actor and would go down in cinema legend because of it. To keep costs down and because Herzog believed the film would benefit from it, the cast and crew endured a rather vigorous journey through the Amazonian jungle and the Peruvian rain-forest. The film was shot chronologically as Herzog thought that the cast and crew's journey down the river would mirror that of the adventurers and would in turn invoke a passion that would be visible on screen. The actors certainly looked like they had walked many miles through thick jungle on camera, this was method acting from method directing. It became too much for the volatile Kinski who at one point became so infuriated with some of the crew, he fired a gun at a hut they were playing cards in and shot the tip of one of their fingers off. Herzog proceeded with caution after this but at the same time relished the actors maddening mood. He would intentionally wind up the actor so that he would burst into a fit of rage and would then start filming once he had calmed down. Herzog wanted Aguirre to have a silent menace about him while Kinski was convinced he should be continuous state of rage. After the finger incident, Herzog told Kinski that if he didn't do as he was told he would shoot him and then himself. Urban legend says that Kinski acted at gunpoint throughout the last half of the film but this is unsurprisingly denied by Herzog. The film had nine months of pre-production, so it was by no means an unorganized film but it certainly went a different direction to that that was originally intended. In this sense, Herzog makes the film look as organic as the story's surroundings. The opening scene of the adventurers climbing the lush green mountains of Peru through the wispy fog to the haunting soundtrack of Krautrockers Popol Vuh is one of the greatest ever committed to film. Herzog himself says he got lucky with the way the fog danced around the composition but nearly every one of his films has one of these Herzogisms in it, so I do wonder if it really is luck anymore. The dialogue is minimal but strikingly effective when used. The last scene and the last line of the film will haunt you for the rest of your cinema-going life. Its influence is huge with Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 epic Apocalypse Now being the most obvious. Based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Coppola fully acknowledged the influence Herzog's film had on the visuals and pace of the movie. Both productions are famous for off-screen difficulties but to be fair, Herzog shot his in five weeks and stayed on budget. Terrence Malick clearly admires the film which is evident in his films, and Roland Joffe's 1986 film The Mission is also similar in style. You could even say that classic alien actioner Predator is similar in many respects and Nicolas Winding Refn's brilliant Valhalla Rising has been indicated as a direct homage to Herzog's classic. It is brave and maverick film making at its best, the quintessential tale of power, greed and madness, and that's just behind the camera. It is amazing that Herzog would choose to essentially do it all over again, with Kinski as his lead, just ten years later, although I and many others are glad he did.