Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes

The movie was slow paced. Klaus Kinski did a good job. However, I doubt whether I would have liked the movie as much if I hadn't watched Herzog's "Grizzly Man", or frozen my ass off in Ottawa. Having watched grizzly man, I know that the struggle between man and nature is of great interest to Herzog. I believe that it is a major element in this movie too. Fighting to keep warm and stay alive makes you realize why dominating and conquering nature is such a big concern for the West. You wont find the popular characters - "mother nature" and "gallant hero" in this movie. Its just a struggle, and an intense one at that.

The "descend to madness" theme of the movie has strong parallels with "Apocalypse Now". The way Herzog portrays people's greed, hypocrisy and stupidity is nice. But it was difficult to identify with the characters, and hence they appeared sort of "distant". I wish he gave more importance to the female characters, atleast to Inez. You are pretty sure that she has a good story to tell and interesting things to say, but she is never given a chance. The way Aguirre gets things done by manipulating peoples' greed and fear is interesting. The interesting bits of the plot happens away from the camera or inside the characters' minds. Choosing the "emperor", the decision to kill him, the action itself, the fate of Inez and so on. They were handled beautifully. I rate it 8.0/10, and I will be watching "Fitzcarraldo" soon.