The End Of The Line

Well, it finally had to happen.  After more than a month I have to part ways with Herrs Herzog and Kinski and return to a world of sanity.  This is the last movie, the last piece in the Kinski-Herzog Exhibition, the summation of all that has come before.  This is

My Best Fiend

Theatrical Film, 1999

Director: Werner “The Very Example of Sanity” Herzog

The Story

Werner Herzog reminisces about his old friend and sworn enemy, five-time collaborator Klaus Kinski.  Joining him in his trips down memory lane are former cast and crewmates, the current owners of the flat where both Herzog and Kinski used to live, and the Indian chiefs who once offered to kill Kinski for the director.  No, really.

The Review

It is fascinating sometimes to watch documentaries and see what they reveal about various subjects.  And what they *don’t* reveal about them.  And what they sometimes inadvertently reveal about them while loudly proclaiming something else.  I say this because Werner Herzog’s documentary/nostalgic ode My Best Fiend, while purporting to reveal the true nature and demented genius of Klaus Kinski also reveals the true nature and insane brilliance of Herzog himself, even though he loudly stresses the opposite.  It is also worth noting what you will not find in this film:  you will not get a detailed biography of Kinski or a straight chronological tale of his time working with Herzog.  What you get is basically a one hour and forty minute twisted love letter to the relationship between the two men.  And it is very, very twisted.  Watching this movie you will see the two fight and slander the other over and over again but you will also see them share tender interludes that seem more like the moments typically shared between lovers than between actors and directors.  In fact, I got the sense watching My Best Fiend that had Herzog and Kinski been of different sexes that they probably would have been bonking each other in addition to working and fighting together.

As I have said this doc attempts to reveal to the world the “true” nature of Klaus Kinski, and for the most part I think that it succeeds, although I don’t know if I trust Herzog’s memory that much.  Herzog portrays Kinski here as both a raving madman and a dedicated professional, idiotically cowardly and unexpectedly courageous, ruthlessly unfeeling and affectionately warm.  Wow, you mean people are multifaceted and the world isn’t black or white?  I never knew!  Anyways, for all the alternating tales of terror (one of the most amusing moments in the entire movie:  Kinski having a tantrum doing Fitzcarraldo and Herzog saying, “oh, that was one of his mild ones.”) and fuzziness (Eva Mattes seems to be especially fond of Klaus) that Herzog presents, the two defining and revealing moments for me are the very beginning and end of the movie itself.  The end has the iconic imagery of Kinski playing with a butterfly who is completely unafraid of him.  The other is the beginning where Kinski is doing one of his Jesus Monologues during the early seventies:  “I am not the Jesus of the official Church… who the police, bankers, judges, hangmen, officers, church bosses, politicians, and other powerful people tolerate.  I am not your Superstar!”  Here I think though that Kinski is not delivering a monologue as Jesus but is actually describing himself through the metaphor of Jesus.  True to Kinski’s statement I think that most people in power and even most Christians today would not appreciate Jesus if they truly got to know him.  Jesus was an iconoclast, a challenger of social norms and did not endear himself to the populace at the time in which he lived.  Similarly I think Kinski was making a statement about himself, that he would be the iconoclastic savior of the acting world, but that he would not bend over or play nice with those in power in the entertainment industry.  He wouldn’t be their moldable “superstar” and be one of those highly paid, pleasant little actors with little talent selling out their craft to the suits and shelling out crap.  In a way he’s very refreshing, I think.  Too many film actors throughout the history of the medium (and especially today) have been bland cookie-cutter copies who just slum it to get massive amounts of bucks.  Kinski with all of his tantrums and typhoon-level rages attempted to take filmmakers, kick them in the ass and challenge them to make good movies.  And if the filmmakers were worth a shit they did the same thing to Kinski to draw out his talent and challenge him to give his best performances.  Like Werner Herzog.

And the secret of Werner Herzog, boys and girls - one that I had suspected since watching Aguirre way back and was confirmed by watching this film – is this:  Werner Herzog is crazier than Klaus Kinski ever was.  He’s just a quieter kind of crazy.  Don’t believe me?  Watch his movies!  Only Herzog would take a group of actors down to the Amazon and film them on the river in simple rafts using only one camera.  Only Herzog would dump 50,000 rats on a Dutch town while filming there.  Only Herzog would allow all the animal tossing and abuse in all of his movies.  And only Herzog would take a boat and really drag it up a mountain.  Still don’t believe me?  Watch this movie.  It will hit you like a sack of bricks attached to a screaming nuclear rocket.  Herzog denies that he’s insane, insisting strenuously that he’s the very definition of sanity.  Then the next words out of his mouth are “Oh, yeah, and then there was that time I tried to firebomb Klaus’ house.”  I rolled on the floor laughing when he said that, then ran and hid under the bed for a couple of hours quaking.  Werner Herzog is the craziest, scariest, most awesome film director who ever lived.  There are directors that had more talent and made better movies, but Herzog eclipses them all with sheer badassery.  Want another example?  He was on an American news show once in LA when he was shot ON CAMERA.  He simply said, “Oh it is only a small bullet,” dug the projectile out of his body and continued like nothing ever happened.  The interviewer kept going on and on about how he had been shot and Herzog seemed to want to say “Yes, yes, you stupid little man, I have been shot, but it is not that big a deal, it is nothing to me, I AM WERNER HERZOG.”  If I ever get the chance to meet the man I don’t know whether I’d be honored or scared shitless.  Or start kowtowing before The Master.

Okay, I’ve been too long-winded.  In a nutshell:  if you have watched all of Herzog and Kinski’s works together then you should watch this film.  It gives insight into both men and why they are two of the greatest to ever practice their craft.

Screenshots

"I am not your Superstar!"

The very face of sanity.  In an insane asylum.

Kinski bandages a wounded crewmember's hand.  Aww.

 This is one of the few places where you'll see the footage of Jason Robards and ...Mick ...Jagger...  in the original version of Fitzcarraldo.  And, wow am I glad that it turned out differently.  Seriously, what is this shit?  These two aren't acting, they're goofing off in front of a camera.  It's hard to believe that Herzog was actually going to make this.

Ahh, that's better.

  I think these two pictures sum up the Herzog/Kinski relationship perfectly.

The DVD

Okay, I want to know who Anchor Bay gets to do their translating and subtitling, because they suck.  When I'm hearing "300 kilometers" in the German dialogue and am reading "300 miles" on the subtitle track it's time for someone to get fired.  If you can't even be bothered to convert metric to imperial measurements properly we have a problem.  In fact, why even bother converting?  This isn't 1965, I have learned metric in school, thank you.  Anyway, crappy subtitles aside this is a decent disc.  No commentary track from Herzog this time but that's because this whole movie is basically a commentary track.

Next Week:  I don't know.  Something in English I think, because I've been watching foreign stuff for so long now I'm starting to hear Japanese and German in my sleep. 
 

Fun Times On The Slave Coast

This week on Kinski-Herzog Theatre, we see their last film together.  Watch Klaus as he impregnates a lot of women, enslaves a shitload of Africans and does other generally not nice stuff in

Cobra Verde

Theatrical Film, 1987

Director: Do I really have to keep repeating this?

The Story

Klaus Kinski plays Francisco Manoel de Silva aka Cobra Verde, a notorious Brazilian bandit.  After being hired as an overseer on a sugar plantation, our hero(?) takes it upon himself to impregnate all three of the owner’s daughters.  This doesn’t sit too well with daddy, so he cooks up a scheme to send Cobra Verde to West Africa to reopen the slave trade thus inviting certain death (what with the malaria and mad African kings and whatnought).  Even though he knows what the situation is, our bandit cum slaver sets off for Dahomey anyway, ‘cause, hey why not, right?  Will everything go to plan?  Or will Cobra Verde prove tenacious enough to defy expectations?  Is the sky blue?  Is Wener Herzog a complete loon?  (the answer to three of those questions:  yes).

Review

Ah, here it is.  The last Kinski/Herzog collaboration.  And it is not their greatest.  Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed this movie on a certain level – but this doesn’t stand up to their greatest works together.  I still enjoyed this more than Woyzeck though.

Klaus Kinski is barely contained in this film.  Reportedly he was almost completely insane and impossible to work with by this time.  I wonder why Herzog agreed to work with him again on this at all (Oh, wait.  No I don’t.  I don’t wonder at all.  It’s because he’s frickin’ nuts.  And a complete masochist).  His performance though is once again completely captivating.  Dull and laconic one moment then raging and animated the next, Kinski goes all out.  This movie could have been called Kinski Unchained.  Even though I don’t think it’s his best performance, Kinski does a pretty good job here, almost making me root for a bandit and a slaver (almost).  The other actors in Cobra Verde are pretty good as well.

As is typical for a Herzog movie, the scenery and imagery are gorgeous and unforgettable.  This being Werner Herzog we actually get shots of Brazil and Western Africa instead of substitute locations, and my eyes and sense of disbelief thank him for it.  Herzog is also great at setting up iconic and very memorable scenes.  My favorite part of the movie: Klaus Kinski training and leading a horde of bare-breasted African Amazon warriors into battle!  If that sentence doesn’t want to make you watch this movie then I don’t know what will.

However, the story itself is a mixed bag for me.  It’s very disjointed.  Events just sort of happen one after another in the early part of the film and don’t flow together that well.  It does get better in the second part of the film though, once Cobra Verde gets to Africa.  But the end feels tacked on, especially with the main character declaring slavery a “crime” right out of the blue.  Wait, what the hell?  This is a man who has had no problem selling other human beings into servitude but when the slave trade is abolished he suddenly flips his position?  It’s possible that Herzog might be making a statement on slavery as a whole – people who have enslaved others declaring slavery immoral only after it has been abolished – but it all just feels arbitrary to me.  Especially since the institution of slavery itself was treated very dispassionately throughout the rest of the movie;  you can see the pain and suffering inherent to the system but there is no moral statement from the filmmaker – it's almost like a documentary. You see it yourself and can judge it for yourself.  Herzog just supplies the images – right up until the end.  Oh well.

Cobra Verde isn’t a bad movie by any means, though.  In fact it’s a very entertaining one, albeit one with some major flaws.  I would still recommend it though to anyone who enjoys historical adventure movies or anyone who wants to see Klaus Kinski act up a storm (you will not be disappointed).  Or anyone who wants to SEE! a horde of bare-BREASTED African Amazon WARRIORS overthrow an INSANE monarch in a kingdom of DEATH!

Screenshots

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood...."

No wisecracks for this shot, I just liked it.

AHH!  This has to be the scariest dude in the entire movie.  

Look into his eyes and despair!

D'AH!  Stop It!  You're haunting my nightmares!  Mommy!

"Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into!"

 

A Horde of BARE BREASTED AFRICAN AMAZON WARRIORS

waiting for the signal to attack.  Either that or a horde of African nerds

waiting outside the convention center for AfriCon '87.

 Okay, what the hell is Cobra Verde doing with a Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifle?

It's fifty years too early!  If Africans were able to get their hands on weapons like

this they would have been able to make mincemeat out of the Europeans when 

they came to colonize Africa later in the century.

It's an animal.  In a Herzog movie.  One guess as to what happens to it.

The DVD

Once again the Anchor Bay DVD is a mixed bag.  The picture quality is pretty good with a few screw ups here and there.  The subtitles were okay though they didn’t match what was being said on the screen a few times (which is pretty egregious considering I only know a few words in German).  The only extras of note on the disc are the original trailers and a commentary by Herzog, which I’ll have to listen to one of these days.  You know, I actually kind of wish the Criterion Collection would release these on DVD, I think they would do a better job.

Next Week: My Best Fiend 

Question: What Do Rubber And Opera Have In Common? Answer: Kinski!

This week on The Kinski Chronicles, Klaus goes down the Amazon (again), deals with headhunting natives (again) and seeks to build an opera house (agai  - WHAT?!) in

Fitzcarraldo

Theatrical Film, 1982

Director: Werner Herzog (could it be anyone else?)

The Story

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, aka “Fitzcarraldo” is a failed entrepreneur in the Peruvian city of Iquitos.  He has one overriding passion: opera.  And he has one overriding dream: building an opera house in his hometown.  To do this though, he’s going to need money.  Lots of money.  And considering that this is Peru in the early twentieth century, the one way to make a lot of money is through rubber.  Fitzcarraldo leases a chunk of land loaded with rubber trees and plans to get enough rubber to make himself stinking rich.  Because dangerous river rapids make this area inaccessible, our half-mad genius has a plan: sail down the neighboring river, then cross over land where the area between the two waterways is the smallest, then sail on to Rubber Paradise.  To accomplish this, he only needs to travel down headhunter-infested streams and drag a 500 ton boat over a mountain.  Should be easy, right?

Review

Werner Herzog is fucking insane.  And completely fucking awesome.  Only he would do a movie like this.  I know I said that about Aguirre, but this movie puts that one to shame; this is Aguirre turned up to 11.  Herzog has said that making this movie was a nightmare, but he must obviously love shooting movies in the jungle on the Amazon River with a crazy raving egomaniac, because he did it twice.  You know what I think?  I think he likes it.  I think Herzog is a masochist.  I think he likes the pain, the endless suffering and hardship, the toil to produce something monumental out of so much torment.  Well, he is German.

Anyway, this has to be the greatest movie I have seen yet from Herzog.  All of the work that went into making this movie paid off because this is one awesome piece of cinema.  This also has to be the only uplifting film I have seen from Herzog up to this point.  Unlike the other films of his that I have reviewed so far, Fitzcarraldo will bring a warm, genuine smile to your face at the end.  I won’t spoil it for you, but you can rest assured that even though this movie shares much in common with the earlier Herzog-Kinski effort Aguirre, this ending is nothing like the one for that film.  Also be prepared to be impressed with the efforts of the characters and feel their struggles and triumphs along with them.  You will feel every elation and every dejection as they struggle to get that boat up that mountain.  Why?  Because they really are hauling that boat up that mountain.  That isn’t a model, people.  That’s real.  Herzog and a group of Amazonian Indians really did drag a multi-ton riverboat up a steep hill in the Amazon Jungle.  This officially makes Werner Herzog the most hardcore filmmaker in the history of cinema.  I think that if the man suddenly decided he wanted to do a space opera he would raise the money, actually go into space and build fleets of starships with real-live death dealing laser cannons.  Werner Herzog doesn’t do special effects!  Special effects are for wussies!

Speaking of Herzog, the main character of this movie himself has to be the most blatant stand-in for a director I have ever seen.  Think about it.  Fitzcarraldo is a man driven by a singular passion: to build an opera house.  And he’s not going to let anything, not financial failure, nor headhunters, nor the jungle, nor a mountain stop him from realizing his dream.  And what is Herzog?  Herzog is a man driven by a singular passion: to make movies.  And he’s not going to let anything, not financial failure, nor headhunters, nor the jungle, nor a mountain stop him from realizing his dream.  I have read that Herzog was briefly considering playing the role himself after Jason Robards got sick and had to leave the shoot.  I’m glad he didn’t – because we would have been denied another great Kinski acting accomplishment – but it would have been interesting seeing the director play a role that was basically autobiographical.  As it is, Klaus Kinski puts in another of his grand performances.  On a side note, this is the most sympathetic and likeable Kinski character I have seen so far.  He has a goal that – if a bit far-fetched – the audience can really get behind, and even if he is intense and almost mad seems like a guy that you could actually sit down and have a drink with without a)checking to see if your cup was poisoned (Aguirre), b)running away in abject terror (Nosferatu) or c)giving him Dr. Freud’s business card (Wozeck).

To conclude this gush-fest, see Fitzcarraldo.  Kinski is great as always, the music is really good, and the direction is the best yet that I have seen from Herzog (more gorgeous scenery galore).  Too often in the movies the audience is told to pursue their dreams and never give up hope but it this message usually comes off as trite; not so here.  Fitzcarraldo is one of a very small number of films that is genuinely inspiring.  And that is saying a lot.

Screenshots

Kinski as Fitzcarraldo, with Claudia Cardinale as his brothel-owning personal bank- er, girlfriend, Molly.

Okay, I think I'm just gonna start keeping a tally of animal abuse in Herzog's movies.   

Fitzcarraldo count:  one cat thrown (again) along with one snake speared.

"Uh, I think it's time to let me out now...  Hello?...  Vern?... Where'd everybody go?...."

Cue Ike and Tina.

"Oh, my God!  I see crappy movie roles and a whacked out autobiography ahead!"

"...And we'll put the shopping mall here...."

This is no model.  Behold the awesome insanity that is Herzog!

 

"And he spent twenty years chained to the wheel of pain-"

oops, sorry, wrong movie from 1982.

The DVD

Not much to say.  It's like every other Anchor Bay Herzog-Kinski DVD.  The picture is pretty good, and audio comes in both English and German (again, like Aguirre this film was shot in English).  One thing that annoys me though is that like the Aguirre DVD, if you choose to watch the film in English the opening text is in German and is not subtitled.  Argh.  Oh well.

Next Week: Cobra Verde

This Week's Lunch Special: Herzog ala Corman

This week on the Kinskipalooza Tour: Klaus loses his marbles, gets all philosophical and murders his wum-mon in:

Woyzeck

Theatrical Film, 1979

Director: Werner Herzog

The Story
Exactly as described above.  Oh, you want more?  OK, although the story itself is very sparse.  Woyzeck is a downtrodden soldier living in …somewhere European (we are never told) in the early Nineteenth Century.  Trying to support his girlfriend/common-law wife Marie and his son by taking odd jobs for his Captain and allowing himself to be medically experimented upon by his Doctor, Woyzeck is a complete mess both physically and psychologically.  All of this plus Marie’s infidelity with a bullying Drum Major leads Woyzeck to… lose his marbles, get all philosophical and murder his wum-mon.  What?  Don’t look at me like that!  I didn’t spoil nuthin'; the ending was spoiled in the film’s trailer!  And on the DVD artwork.

Review

I’m not going to say much on this movie, and not only because I’m very busy at the moment.  The truth is that there isn’t much to say about Woyzeck.  It’s a middling effort from Werner Herzog and not that great of a movie.  It was shot in the space of two weeks right after filming Nosferatu, and it shows.  The scenery in this film is gorgeous (a Herzog trademark) and Kinski does a good job as the tormented title character, but everything fails to gel for me.  The pacing stutters and the film is way too dialogue heavy, and not in a good way.  Characters do nothing most of the time except stand around philosophizing at each other (this is probably the most stereotypically European film I have seen yet from Herzog).  Seeing as this was adapted from a play, this is not a surprise – everything does have a stagey feel.

I don’t hate this movie, and in fact a weak effort from Herzog is better than the best efforts put out by 90% of the other movie directors out there.  It’s just not that compelling.  It’s definitely worth watching once though if for the beautiful photography and Kinski’s acting.  Just don’t expect to come back to it again and again.

Screenshots

Just your typical gorgeous Herzog scenery, just keep moving, keep moving along....

Eva Mattes as Marie:  "What the Hell just happened?"  

You'll be asking yourself the same question throughout this movie.

"My, Major, what big hands you have!"
"The better to grope you with, my dear!"

The doctor drops a cat bomb on Woyzeck.  You know, I wonder if Germany even has an SPCA, because if they do then they must be pissed with Herzog right about now, what between the horse-punching-monkey-chucking of Aguirre, the rat-abuse of Nosferatu and this.  Actually, come to think of it he would probably treat his human actors the same way if he thought he could get away with it.

"Um, look, I like you too, but I think we should try being just friends first."

Woyzeck runs through a field of POPPIES Poppies poppies

The DVD

Woyzeck comes on an infamously bare-bones DVD.  Don't expect any frills.  The picture and sound on this are good enough, but there has obviously been no attempt to clean up anything.  There are no extra features save the theatrical trailer (which, again, spoils the ending) and text info on Herzog and Kinski.  There is no commentary by Herzog, so I guess he didn't think that much of this film, either.

Next Week: Fitzcarraldo

A Vampire Movie That Doesn't Suck

Kinskifest 2010 continues this week with Werner Herzog’s remake of the 1922 Murnau silent classic, Nosferatu.  So, without further ado….

Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht

Theatrical Film, 1979

Director: Werner Herzog

The Story

It’s Dracula.  You’ve seen it a million times before.  The only thing that’s different is that it’s set in Germany.  And some of the names are different.  And it’s better than most of the other vampire movies you’ve ever seen.

Review and Analysis

You know, I was going to give a really long analysis here?  Something about how most vampire movies are schlocky, xenophobic, sexually-repressive-and-yet-sex-obsessed holdovers of Victorian mores owing to the Bram Stoker source material that they inevitably draw on?  And how Nosferatu, even though derived from the same source is different and one of a handful of vampire films that can be called art?

But I’m dead tired.  I’m unemployed (REAL LIFE ALERT) and my job search is taking up so much time right now I barely have time to keep up with this blog… two weeks after I began it.  So I was going to talk about how great Nosferatu is, about how great Klaus Kinski is in the main role, about how great Herzog’s direction is or how great the music is but I won’t.  I’m also not going to analyze all the symbolism and stuff in this movie – you’ll just have to watch it and see for yourself.  Do it.  It’s a great movie, probably the greatest vampire movie I have ever seen.

And I will watch and review Woyzeck next week, but don’t expect a long review on that either.

Anyways, see Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht.

Screenshots

Haha, I love Herzog.  Only he could start a vampire movie with THIS,
and then switch to....

KITTENS!

"Was it something I said?"

"Guess so."

Aww!  Yes, he may be a blood-sucking beast,
but he's such a wonewy bwood-sucking beast!

When you absolutely, positively must deliver the plague overnight.

Rats, rats, RATS!

True to this film's roots, Isabelle Adjani gives us some
good, old-fashioned silent movie acting.

I honestly don't know who's scarier in this shot, Kinski or Adjani.

The DVD

It’s basically the German-language disc from the 2 disc Anchor Bay set put out a few years ago (Nosferatu was shot simultaneously in both German and English – two separate movies), although interestingly it’s mislabeled as Nosferatu the Vampyre, which is the title for the English version.  Oops.  Anyways, it’s a decent DVD picture and audio-wise.  There’s a neat “making of” featurette and a few trailers.  The US trailer cracked me up by the way: “Unlike any other Dracula film ever made” …except, you know, the original Nosferatu.

Next Week:  Woyzeck

And Now For Something Completely Different....

Finally, after the blog being up a whole week I am posting my first review for something that is a)a film, b)live action and c)not Japanese.  It’s good to get variety - and while the title of this blog does not necessarily imply that TV shows and video releases can’t be reviewed it is nice to finally be reviewing a THEATRICAL film for a site called the Pharonic Fantasy THEATRE.

A while ago I got the Werner Herzog-Klaus Kinski DVD Boxset.  I had already seen Aguirre and Nosferatu and these movies made me want to see the other three collaborations between these two mad geniuses.  So over the next few weeks I will review the five films in the Herzog-Kinski boxset and the documentary film included as a bonus, My Best Fiend.  This week, their first effort together:

Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Film, 1972
Director: Werner Herzog



The Story

It is 1560.  Spain has established an empire in the New World and has just recently conquered Peru.  An expedition is sent into the Amazon from the Peruvian mountains to find El Dorado, the legendary Lost City of Gold.  An advance scouting party is sent ahead of the main group to determine the terrain and the location of the lost city.  This group, led by Don Pedro de Ursúa soon falls to a mutiny led by Ursúa’s second-in-command, Don Lope de Aguirre.  Aguirre spurs the band of explorers further and further down the Amazon river to find El Dorado and eternal glory.  As the opening text explains, the conquered Indians invented the story of El Dorado as revenge against the greedy Spaniards to lure the White Man to his death in a fruitless search for untold riches.  From the moment the movie starts you know these suckers are doomed.


Review and Analysis

Wow.  Most movie directors, when given the task of making a film about doomed conquistadors in the Amazon  would probably just go to Hawaii and shoot the jungle scenes there while filming the raft scenes inside a studio in front of a projection screen or something.  Werner Herzog is not most movie directors (note to self: just made understatement of the century).  He actually went to the Amazon, built some rafts and filmed the whole thing with just one camera.  And everything you see in the resulting cinematic masterpiece is real.  Okay, well except for the people dying.  But I wouldn’t put it past Herzog.  The man is supposed to be insanely dedicated to making movies.  The famous legend about the making of Aguirre is that Herzog threatened to kill Klaus Kinski when the volatile actor threatened to leave the shoot.  That’s how devoted the director is to his craft:  you are not going to stop Werner Herzog from making a film.  Period.  But putting aside the whole crazy thing, the way this movie was shot really makes a difference.  Since Herzog really is shooting on the Amazon, the actors’ performances are going to be different from if they were shooting in a soundstage or something.  The actors really are suffering: the Amazon is one of the biggest Hells on Earth.  It’s hot, unbearably humid and every living thing in the jungle is trying to kill you.  So the reactions of the actors to the discomforts and dangers of the Amazon river basin that you are seeing on the screen are probably real.

Speaking of performances, it is of course impossible to talk about Aguirre without talking about the performance of its lead, the infamous Klaus Kinski.  This was the role that made Kinski famous internationally, and I can see why.  Kinski may have been an unpredictable egotist with a thermonuclear temper, but he was also one of the greatest actors who ever lived.  Watch him in this film, he’s amazing.  He is both violent and passive, kind and hateful, thoughtful and brutish, sometimes all in the same scene.  And he is intense, both loudly and quietly.  Again, sometimes all in the same scene.  In fact Kinski is the most intense actor I have ever seen.  The only actor I think I have ever seen that even comes close to Kinski’s raw power is Toshiro Mifune.  Certainly no one alive today is even in the same league.

This film is gorgeous.  Herzog has a great eye, and just about every shot in Aguirre has something interesting in it, even if it’s not something conventionally interesting.  Even when little is happening you can’t help but watch, entranced.  The opening is a prime example: nothing but Spanish soldiers and Indian slaves making their way down the mountainside while music by Krautrock band Popol Vuh plays in the background.  Yet it is hypnotizing, in part because the scenery is gorgeous and also because the ominous music lends to the mystery of the Amazon and lets you know somehow exactly what is to come.  You know right from the start that this expedition is doomed to failure and possible death.  The jungle is too mysterious and the Spaniards too greedy to allow even smallest hope of success.  Aguirre is destined to mutiny against Ursúa because of the inherent nature of the journey: to find nonexistent riches in a city that never was.  The course of the film itself is set along with the rafts of the conquistadores: forward, ceaselessly forward into the jaws of Hell and damnation.  Greed for gold destroys all and warps the minds of men who should know better.  It is interesting that Herzog posits at the beginning of the film that El Dorado is in fact a tale made up by the Indians with the express intent of taking revenge on the Spaniards for conquering them, using the greed that had led to the Conquista in the first place to lure them to certain death.  This serves to partly make the film a study on racism and colonialism: seeing the way that the Spaniards treat the native Indians and their own slaves makes one see the bigotry and arrogance inherent to the European conquest of the Americas (being a student of history I already knew this however).  One can’t completely hate the Spaniards however: there is still an indomitable human will that seems to fuel their journey down the river in search of something they will never find.  Though not sympathetic, you can’t help but be impressed by the relentless drive of someone like Lope de Aguirre, even if that drive leads to complete ruination.

Well, enough analysis lest this start to sound like some high-minded college paper.  Does Aguirre, the Wrath of God have anything in it for people other than the art-house crowd? Hell, yeah!  In Aguirre you will see:


-a dude get his head cut off!
-Cannibals!
-Our Heroes strip their black slave near naked and drive him in front of them to “frighten the natives!”  And I had always thought that the tactic of using a Big Scary Black Man to frighten the populace was invented by American politicians!
-actors eating river algae!
-Klaus Kinski punch a horse!
-Klaus Kinski chuck a monkey into the drink!

This classic film can be recommended to just about anyone.  It has great photography, very funny dark humor and an excellent performance by one of the greatest actors ever.  It can be slow, but that is not damning it all, in fact the slowness is one of its strengths.  If you ever have a chance to see Aguirre, do so.


Screenshots

Klaus Kinski as Aguirre.  His eyes will burn holes into your soul!

Come on, Mr. Monk!  You’re a member of the Catholic Church in the Age of The Inquisition!
Condemning a man to death in a show trial should be as natural as picking spinach out of your teeth!

Yay, dysentery!

Yay, dysentery!

In case you are wondering: yes, they really did put a boat up in the trees.
I told you: everything in this movie is real.

Okay, kiddies, puzzle time:  how many things can you spot that are wrong with this picture?
Ready, set, go!

Chuck the monkey, Klaus!  Chuck the monkey!
(He does.)

The DVD

The DVD in the Herzog-Kinski Collection is pretty basic.  It is also the exact same as the previous single Anchor Bay release.  Extras include a trailer for the movie and commentary by Herzog (which I still haven’t listened to but want to).  Languages included are German and English.  As I had seen the German dub before this time I decided to go with English for this review.  Interestingly, the film was shot in English; reportedly it was the only language the entire international cast knew in common.  The German dub was post-synched later.  This shows in the performances:  the acting is good enough but I could tell that some of the actors were not that comfortable speaking lines in English (simply knowing a language and being fluent enough to act in it are two different things).  This doesn’t detract from the film however.  The picture on this DVD is very good considering Aguirre is a European film made during the 1970s.  The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (it was not shot in widescreen, despite what some people think.  The one and only camera used to film the movie was an old standard 35mm camera – that Herzog had stolen from film school.  Of course).


Next Week: Nosferatu, Phantom Der Nacht