Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5671 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: NTSC, Full Screen
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English
• Running time: 93 minutes

From Amazon.com
Quite simply a great movie, one whose implacable portrait of ruthless greed and insane ambition becomes more pertinent every year. The astonishing Klaus Kinski plays Don Lope de Aguirre, a brutal conquistador who leads his soldiers into the Amazon jungle in an obsessive quest for gold. The story is of the expedition's relentless degeneration into brutality and despair, but the movie is much more than its plot. Director Werner Herzog strove, whenever possible, to replicate the historical circumstances of the conquistadors, and the sheer human effort of traveling through the dense mountains and valleys of Brazil in armor creates a palpable sense of struggle and derangement. This sense of reality, combined with Kinski's intensely furious performance, makes Aguirre, the Wrath of God a riveting film. Its unique emotional power is matched only by other Herzog-Kinski collaborations like Fitzcarraldo and Woyzek. --Bret Fetzer

Review
Few actor/director relationships were more combative than that of Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog (most manage to creatively negotiate without resorting to the threat of lethal violence), but fewer still so dramatically brought out the best in each artist. Before Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Kinski was a fine actor who made a career out of starring in third-rate films, while Herzog was a skillful filmmaker whose works often lacked the clear focal points they needed. But with Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Kinski finally had a role worthy of his gifts as the gloriously mad conquistador Aguirre, and Herzog had a leading man whose bizarre but inarguably potent charisma made him impossible to ignore; tgoether, they brought a bizarre, surreal story to vivid and sweaty life. While Kinski and Herzog would make four more films together, Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes remains perhaps the best work either man ever did; the final shot, of the psychotic Aguirre, doomed but glowing with what he believes to be triumph, standing tall on a raft overrun with monkeys, is just the sort of image that this pair of mad geniuses could have only created together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
Full-frame presentation
Audio commentary with director Werner Herzog
Theatrical trailer
Talent bios
Languages: German and English
Optional English subtitles

Customer Reviews

Herzog and Kinski's Vision of Manifested Madness
On the eastern slopes of the Andes during the Spanish expedition , Gonzalo Pizarro urges his men to continue through the thick Amazon forests despite the dangers within the dark and humid jungle. The tale of Pizarro's venture begins with an ominous warning as it is revealed to the audience that the only surviving evidence of the expedition is a journal kept by Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, a monk who travels to spread the gospel of Christianity. This bleak foreshadowing induces an inching uneasiness into the mind of the audience. This is enhanced by further looming incidents such as native slaves dying like flies from simple colds and food shortage. The low supply of food leads to a decision to split the group where one group should return for provisions and the other should continue searching for a gold shimmering city. This tale then follows the ill-fated who continue the journey for the legendary city as they are drawn deeper into the cruel world of the Amazon. Deaths of several men forebode the grim future of the expedition, which the leadership wants to call off and return to the safety of civilization. However, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a high ranking soldier, commands a rise against the leadership based on a proud vision of greatness and worldly riches beyond imagination that drives him to thrust deeper into the unexplored rainforest. Aguirre's vision draws the expedition into a personal realm of madness and destruction, which leads to only one certain fate.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God has a lingering effect on the audience as the eerie atmosphere created by Herzog persists from the initial shot to the final scene. There are several components that generate this bizarre ambiance of the story such as cinematography, idiosyncrasies, mise-en-scene, and performances by the cast. The cinematography is simple and sometimes documentary-like, which produces a real feeling. This real feeling together with the uncanny knowledge of the unavoidable doom enhances the extraordinary atmosphere of the venture. The complete portrait of the character Aguirre by Klaus Kinski is nothing but spectacular. Herzog's choice of mise-en-scene is delicately chosen as all the items had to be transported by the expedition. Each item within each frame displays a significant symbolism such as the horse and raft, which adds new layers to the unnatural atmosphere. Lastly, the performances by the cast are outstanding as it is not the dialogue that drives the story forward, but the visual manifestation of their being that elevates the outlandish impression of each scene. When Herzog combined all the aspects of film-making in Aguirre: The Wrath of God he left the world a brilliantly eerie cinematic experience that will leave several notions in reflecting minds.

inexplicable
I'm at a loss to describe this movie. Let's just say that young people who dissect movies instead of expecting to be entertained by them will appreciate this one.

More artistic than historic.
Called "A breathtaking journey into the heart of darkness."

The cinema tail of the conquest of Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) and how it might have been as they traverse the Amazon river (Filmed in Peru) in search of the mythical lost City of Gold.

Some see it as real others see holes you can drive a truck through; Any way you see it this is a good place to start in the New German Cinema movement. A good choice of actors and great visuals. This is also an intense way to learn some German. The victim on the raft is full of arrows and he gets kicked before the revealing statement "er ist tot"