1972: Movies Pt. 3

Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.

Aguirre, The Wrath of God

The purpose of this series when I started it was to catch up on some of the more famous 70's movies that have slipped through my movie watching experience (and to have a chance to re-watch some of my favorite 70's films along the way).  This movie does not really fit into the category of "famous" movies from the 1970's.  Its really more of the "infamous" variety.  I have seen references to it many times over the years in articles and documentaries about 70's films, but never had a chance to see it until now.

Aguirre... is the story of a group of Spanish conquistadors in 1560 who, led by Pizarro, come down from the Andes and set out in search of El Dorado, the famed lost city of gold. Pizarro sends part of his group, which includes Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) as the second in command, ahead on a scouting mission.  As things get progressively worse on the journey, Aguirre stages a rebellion and installs a puppet as leader so he can lead from behind the scenes.  Conditions continue to worsen (including the constant threat of death from Indian attack) and Aguirre becomes more brutal and unhinged.

The "infamous" tag comes from the relationship between the director (Werner Herzog) and the star (Kinski).  Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant one.  Their relationship mostly consisted of Kinski being a giant pain in the ass and Herzog trying any means necessary (such as deliberately infuriating Kinski before each scene and, allegedly, pulling a gun on the actor to get him to come back to the set) to get Kinski to play the roll the way the director wanted.  As volatile as it was, this crazy relationship worked.  Kinski's portrayal of a man who starts out craving power but slowly descends into madness as his journey down the river continues with no end is brilliant.  I have seen very few actors that can portray sheer insanity just with their eyes like Kinski does in this film (which is a necessity as there is very little dialog).  He is very haunting.

The movie is beautifully shot as well.  You get a great sense of the isolation that the crew is feeling as they move further and further down the river and their numbers (and supplies) dwindle.  It was filmed on location in Peru on a very small budget, but it still looks great.  Aguirre... was supposedly a very big influence on Apocalypse Now, and that's pretty apparent. 



Pink Flamingos

WOW.

Just...

WOW.