Saturday, March 20, 2004
AGUIRRE THE WRATH OF GOD(1972)
Today's movie; NYTimes1000Best; Werner Herzog's take on the Pizarro expedition in Peru; Klaus Kinski doing his hammy but extremely effective thing; starring the jungle and a lot of people who must have put up with a lot to make this picture.
AGGUIRE is the ultimate in cinematic realism; nearly a documentary. In 1972 there were no gadgets. You saw what they did on the 'set'. I saw it in the original. I still remember them going over the Andes and, of all things, the horse being left standing in the jungle (see it).
The experience of watching this film is dense and intense. Though it is pretty clear what is going to happen, there is an edge-of-the-seat quality as the inevitable unfolds.
There is a great website for Werner Herzog. It has a lot of interesting stuff including a trailer on the 75th birthday of his favorite actor Klaus Kinski. Notably, Herzog charges for downloadable still pictures from his films. He has the heart of a producer as well as a director. He has produced, written, and directed more than forty films, published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.
We will be seeing at least one other Herzog film in the 1000: FITZCARRALDO. Herzog/Kinski's NOSFERATU probably should be on the list as well but it is not. I will give this a Netflix 4 out of 5.
