#85: Aguirre: The Wrath Of God

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)

If it weren't so grim, Aguirre would almost be a dark comedy, or a satire on western arrogance. It follows a Spanish expedition in 1560 into South American jungles, looking for 'El Dorado', a land of gold that doesn't exist. It's made obvious from the beginning that the entire expedition is doomed. Right of the bat an entire raft of men gets stuck in an eddy, then picked off with arrows by Indians. At this point the leader of the expedition wants to turn back, but the second in command pulls a mutiny, saying 'Cortez defied orders and kept going, and that's how he conquered Mexico!'

As the film goes on their delusions get more and more comical. The noble they dubbed 'Emperor' is floating down the river eating up the last of their food, saying 'I hereby claim the lands to the left. I hereby claim the lands to the right. Yes…our country is already six times as big as Spain and grows bigger by the day!' Meanwhile everybody who tries to defect gets executed. They even are given a chance to make peace with the natives, and all they try to do is convert them to Christianity and kill them for not understanding what the Bible is.

Other than those two Indians who tried to talk to them, we hardly get a glimpse of them. They never attack them outright. They pick them off one by one with arrows from behind trees. The Spaniads' attitude remains unphased. "We're Christians, they're not. We're civilzed people, they're not. Thus, victory is our destiny." There's never any self awareness, nobody ever makes a speech about how foolish they all were. It's not that sort of movie. All we see is the Spaniards' journey into oblivion, and we're left to draw any extra implications for ourselves.

Rating: **** 1/2 / 5

31/100

Next: Gone With The Wind, The Third Man, Rules of the Game

Others:

Cries and Whispers **** 1/2 / 5

One of Bergman's later more realistic films, Cries and Whispers follows a rich family during and after the drawn out, agonizing death of one of their sisters. While she's dying the only one comforting her is her servant Anna. Her two sisters keep their distance and coldly manage the affairs of the estate. There are lots of dreams and flashbacks that show the sisters' inner emotional reactions and their humanity, but outside of flashbacks they barely act human. Their inability to share their real selves with anyone keeps them from connecting with the important people in their lives.