Learning on ScreenAguirre, Wrath of God
1972. West Germany. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre, Wrath of God). Directed by Werner Herzog. Starring Klaus Kinski, Cecilia Rivera, Ruy Guerra, Peter Berling. 93 minutes. In cinemas.
About the Reviewer: Eve-Marie Oesterlen is the EUscreen Project manager for BUFVC. She was previously Information Research Assistant at the Norddeutscher Rundfunk broadcasting corporation in Hannover, Germany. Eve-Marie is completing her Ph.D. on Shakespeare’s late plays at the University of Hannover. She is co-editor of Shakespeare on Film, Television and Radio: The Researcher’s Guide (2009). Follow Eve on Twitter (@Bufeve) or contact by E-mail
Newly restored, the third feature and international breakthrough film of Werner Stipetić – better known as the notoriously fearless German filmmaker Werner Herzog – is set to be a highlight in the two-month Herzog retrospective beginning at BFI Southbank this month (for further details, visit: www.bfi.org.uk/werner-herzog).
Shot entirely on location in the thick of the Peruvian rainforest with a 35mm camera which Herzog ‘liberated’ from the Munich film school, Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) charts the 16th-century Spanish Conquistador Lope de Aguirre’s defiant and ultimately suicidal expedition down the Amazon in search of El Dorado.
Stories about the making of this compulsive masterpiece abound, ranging from Herzog’s explosive relationship with lead actor and ‘best fiend’ Klaus Kinski, to filming with a starving cast of actors (plus 270 native Indian ‘extras’) without a storyboard on a shoestring budget of $370,000 (a third of which allegedly went to Kinski). All of which adds to the kudos of what has become an all time cult classic, in spite of Herzog’s initial struggle to secure a theatrical release.
The digital re-release by the BFI retains Herzog’s preferred academy ratio (4:3) and beautifully brings out the visceral quality of what the Süddeutsche Zeitung in an early review described as ‘a colour-drenched, violently physical moving painting’ – saturated colours of primeval nature set against the deteriorating finery of Renaissance man. The audio quality gives full scope to the hypnotic score composed by Florian Fricke from the Krautrock band Popol Vuh and the piercing bird cries that form the relentless chorus to this stunning filmic expedition into the heart of darkness.
Eve-Marie Oesterlen
Aguirre, Wrath of God will be in cinemas from Friday 7 June. For further details, visit the bfi website at: www.bfi.org.uk/
