Aguirre, Wrath of God

            The film Wrath of God is about a group of explorers who are searching for the city gold known as El Dorado.  The main leader splits up the group and asks a smaller group to go ahead down the river and see if they can find anything else.  There are exquisite shots of these makeshift rafts going down the river.  While on this sub-journey, inevitable drama between the men erupts.  Also, they have some run ins with the Natives, which can only end poorly.

            The filming of this movie is very perplexing to me. It was shot in the jungle, which is on its own, extremely dangerous, and not to mention difficult for the filmmakers. For example, there are shots of the raft from crewmen’s perspectives, so that means that the person filming had to also be on this raft, or another one on the river.  Also, they filmmakers are running the risk of fever and disease on the entire crew.

            One element of the film that I enjoyed was the cast selection; it was dead on, especially with Klaus Kinski.  He was the perfect choice to play Aguirre.  His face structure and gestures are hard to read, which really adds to the dimensions of his character.  Aguirre also has this limp when he walks, which makes him seem even crazier.  The fact that we do not know how his injuries occurred will give our imaginations the freedom to wander.  Overall, I really enjoyed the film Aguirre.