Aguirre, the Wrath of God
All actors and roles (10)
All team (21)
Short description
Set a few decades after the fall of the Inca Empire, the story follows a Spanish expedition that descends from the Peruvian mountains into the Amazon rainforest in search of the legendary city of El Dorado. When the terrain and the river prove harsher than expected, Gonzalo Pizarro sends a smaller group ahead on rafts under Pedro de Ursúa, with Lope de Aguirre at his side. As the journey falters, Aguirre seizes control, turns against Spanish authority and drives his companions on toward a goal that may bring wealth or death. The events are framed through the account of the friar Gaspar de Carvajal.
Werner Herzog wrote and directed the film, his third of twenty-two features, following Even Dwarfs Started Small and preceding The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Klaus Kinski plays Aguirre, with Helena Rojo, Del Negro, Ruy Guerra, Peter Berling and Cecilia Rivera among a credited cast of twenty-four. Herzog also produced with Hans Prescher, and the production involved Germany, Mexico and Peru.
Released in late 1972 and running 95 minutes, the film has drawn a much warmer response from critics than from general viewers: critics rate it 9.2 out of 10 from 56 reviews, while it holds 7.8 on IMDb from around 68,000 votes and 7.4 on TMDB from roughly 1,300 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- One night during filming, Klaus Kinski was so angered by the noise coming from a tent where the actors and crew were playing cards that he grabbed a rifle and fired several shots into the tent. As a result, one of the extras lost a finger. Werner Herzog immediately took the weapon away from Kinski.
- The role of the flutist was played by a mentally disabled beggar whom Werner Herzog once saw and decided to cast in the film. This sometimes led to problems during filming because the man turned out to be extremely timid.
- Many moments ended up in the film by chance. In one of the opening scenes, the porters almost drop the palanquin in which Ines is sitting. A hand appears in the frame to help them hold the palanquin. It is the hand of director Werner Herzog.
- In a scene in the Indian village, Klaus Kinski struck one of the actors on the head with a sword. The blow was so powerful that the actor was saved from death only by his helmet.
- This was Werner Herzog's first film with Klaus Kinski. Their creative partnership continued for another 15 years.
- Werner Herzog himself devised the main character's unique gait.
- Werner Herzog worked on the film without storyboards.
- The film was shot in English – the only language known to all members of the crew. The original sound was not used due to its poor quality and was dubbed in German. As director Werner Herzog recounted, Klaus Kinski demanded such a sum for re-recording the sound that they had to find another actor with a similar voice. Gerd Martincen became that actor, his voice being indistinguishable from Kinski's.
- Insufficient funding did not allow for the use of stunt doubles. The crew and actors climbed mountains, hacked through the jungle, and descended river rapids on rafts built by locals. Once, the Amazon River overflowed its banks, flooding the set and destroying all the rafts. The episode of the river overflowing was decided to be included in the plot.
- There were also days when Werner Herzog had to pay for food for the actors and crew with his own watches and shoes, and the actors and crew had to live on those same rafts during the filming of the heroes' raft journey down the Amazon.
- Werner Herzog wanted Klaus Kinski to play the role of Aguirre from the very beginning, as he had known him for several years.
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