Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Aguirre, the Wrath of God German Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes , known in the UK as Aguirre, Wrath of God, is a 1972 West German epic filmcitation needed written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role. The soundtrack was composed and performed by German progressiveKrautrock band Popol Vuh. The story follows the travels of Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre, who leads a group of conquistadores down the Orinoco and 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 films storyline is, as Herzog acknowledged years after the films release, a work of imagination. Some of the people and situations may have been inspired by Gaspar de Carvajals 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.

In 1560, several score of Spanish conquistadors, and a hundred Indian slaves, march down from the newly conquered Inca Empire in the Andes mountains into the jungles to the east, in search of the fabled country of El Dorado. Under the command of Gonzalo Pizarro Alejandro Repulls, the men, clad in half armor, pull cannons down narrow mountainous paths and through dense, muddy jungle. On New Years Eve, reaching the end of his supplies and unable to go on without more information, Pizarro orders a group of forty men to scout ahead by raft down river. If they do not return to the main party within one week with news of what lies beyond, they will be considered lost. Pizarro chooses Don Pedro de Ursa Ruy Guerra as the commander of the expedition, Don Lope de Aguirre Klaus Kinski as his secondincommand, fat nobleman Don Fernando de Guzmn Peter Berling representing The Royal House of Spain and Brother Gaspar de Carvajal Del Negro to bring the word of God. Also accompanying the expedition, against Pizarros better judgment, are Ursas mistress, Doa Ins Helena Rojo and Aguirres teenage daughter, Flors Cecilia Rivera, in her only film role.Traveling through rapids, one of the four rafts gets caught in an eddy, and the others are unable to help free it. That night, gunfire erupts on the trapped raft in the morning the men on board are found dead, with two missing. Ursa wants the bodies to be brought back to camp for proper burial. Knowing this would slow down the expedition, Aguirre hints to Perucho Daniel Ades to keep the rust off of the cannon. Perucho proceeds to fire the cannon at the raft, destroying it and throwing the bodies into the river. ........

Source: Wikipedia