Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Directed By: Werner Herzog
The story follows the travels of Spanish soldier Lope De Aguirre, who leads a group of conquistadores down the Amazon River in South America in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. Using a minimalist story and dialogue, the film creates a vision of madness and folly, counterpointed by the lush but unforgiving Amazonian jungle. Although based loosely on what is known of the historical figure of Aguirre, the film's story line is, as Herzog acknowledged years after the film's release, a work of imagination. Some of the people and situations may have been inspired by Gaspar De Carvajal's account of an earlier Amazonian expedition, although Carvajal was not on the historical voyage represented in the film. Other accounts state that the expedition went into the jungles but never returned to civilization. (From Wikipedia)
This film is a wonderfully visual masterwork from one of cinema's most impressive directors. You will not want to miss the harrowing descent into delusion and megalomania. Hope to see you there!
Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcr8nVr4tSA
Have you seen the movie where Christian Bale is a POW in Vietnam. It has the same intensity as Aquirre
ReplyDeleteYes, Rescue Dawn, it's actually the same director. Herzog makes some amazing films.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen My Son, My Son what Have You done? Michael Shannon goes to Peru and goes crazy. Sound familiar? Also by Herzog.
DeleteYeah, I just watched it about a month or two ago, I enjoyed it. I'm trying to watch my way through what I haven't seen of his filmography this year.
ReplyDeleteI just managed to get a hold of the rest of his short/documentary films that I haven't seen yet...tiresome and irritating process but I finally got them through the library.
ReplyDelete