Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Classic Cinema
•
1h 33m
Directed by Werner Herzog | 94 mins | 1972
The first collaboration between Herzog and Klaus Kinski cast the notoriously unhinged actor as the even more unhinged 16th-century conquistador Don Lope de Aguirre—nicknamed “El Loco” or “The Madman”—found embarking on his final mission: a frantic search for El Dorado, the mythical South American city of gold that was the source of so many lost dreams. Aguirre takes control over a Spanish expedition, leading the crew and his young daughter down the Amazon on a slow descent into hell, accompanied by the haunting, ambient score by Popol Vuh, the German collective who would contribute to the soundtracks of many Herzog films to come. Perhaps the ultimate of the director’s portraits of madness and his seamless weaving of fact into fiction (his version of "Aguirre" is mostly created), it ranks high among Herzog’s masterpieces.
Up Next in Classic Cinema
-
Damnation
Directed by Béla Tarr | 116 mins | 1987
Tarr’s first collaboration with writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai produces a quintessential Eastern bloc brew of voluptuous gloom and romantic doom that became the filmmaker’s defining style. The story of a hard-drinking man, the wicked cabaret singer he loves, a... -
Daughters of Darkness
Directed by Harry Kümel | 87 mins | 1971
Profoundly inspired by the spirit of Belgian Surrealist and Symbolist painting, Kümel’s darkly poetic horror film begins with a young newlywed couple waylaid at a grand hotel en route to England, where they fall under the spell of the elegant Hungarian Cou... -
Farewell, My Lovely
Directed by Dick Richards | 95 mins | 1975
In this handsome adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s 1940 novel, noir icon Robert Mitchum meets one of the genre’s quintessential figures, Detective Philip Marlowe. The search for a missing girlfriend and a stolen jade necklace brings him into contact with ...
