Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (original title)

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (written by)

Release Date:

3 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Tagline:

On this river, God never finished his creation.

Plot:

In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Plot Keywords:

River | Expedition | Spanish | Amazon | 16th Century

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	Don Lope de Aguirre
Helena Rojo	...	Inez
Del Negro	...	Brother Gaspar de Carvajal
Ruy Guerra	...	Don Pedro de Ursua
Peter Berling	...	Don Fernando de Guzman
Cecilia Rivera	...	Flores
Daniel Ades	...	Perucho
Edward Roland	...	Okello
Alejandro Chavez
Armando Polanah	...	Armando
Daniel Farfán
Julio E. Martínez		(as Julio Martinez)
Alejandro Repullés	...	Gonzalo Pizarro
Indianern der Kooperative Lauramarca
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claus Biederstaedt	...	Brother Gaspar de Carvajal (voice) (uncredited)
Lothar Blumhagen	...	Don Pedro de Ursua (voice) (uncredited)
Heinz Theo Branding	...	Don Fernando de Guzman (voice) (uncredited)
Christian Brückner	...	Balthasar (voice) (uncredited)
Michael Chevalier	...	Conqueror Being Beheaded (voice) (uncredited)
Norbert Gescher	...	Conqueror (voice) (uncredited)
Justo González	...	González (uncredited)
Uta Hallant	...	Flores and Inez (voice) (uncredited)
Manfred Lehmann	...	Conqueror (voice) (uncredited)
Antonio Marquez	...	(uncredited)
Gerd Martienzen	...	Don Lope de Aguirre (voice) (uncredited)
Edgar Ott	...	Gonzalo Pizarro (voice) (uncredited)
Uwe Paulsen	...	Okello (voice) (uncredited)
Dieter Ranspach	...	Perucho (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Werner Herzog

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Werner Herzog		written by

Produced by
Daniel Camino	....	co-producer
Werner Herzog	....	producer
Hans Prescher	....	producer
Lucki Stipetic	....	line producer

Original Music by
Popol Vuh

Cinematography by
Thomas Mauch

Film Editing by
Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus

Production Management
Gustavo Cerff Abulu	....	unit manager (as Gustavo Cerff Arbulú)
Walter Saxer	....	production manager
Lucki Stipetic	....	production manager

Sound Department
Bob Oliver	....	synchronisation
Herbert Prasch	....	sound

Special Effects by
Juvenal Herrera	....	special effects
Miguel Vázquez	....	special effects (as Miguel Vazquez)

Camera and Electrical Department
Francisco Joán	....	second cinematographer
Orlando Macchiavello	....	second cinematographer
Ovidio Ore	....	assistant camera

Other crew
Ina Fritsche	....	co-worker
Martje Grohmann	....	production assistant
Georg Hagmüller	....	co-worker (as Dr. Georg Hagmüller)
René Lechleitner	....	co-worker
Gerd Martienzen	....	voice dubbing: Klaus Kinski (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
• Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) (co-production)

Distributors

• Filmverlag der Autoren (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• New Yorker Films (1977) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Národní Filmový Archiv (NFA) (2007) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Applause Productions Inc.
• Ingram International Films
• New Yorker Films (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1982) (UK) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1982) (UK) (video) (Betamax)
• Ripley's Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)
• StudioCanal (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes" - West Germany (original title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | Quechua

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Australia:M (cable rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1991) | West Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | South Korea:12 (2002) | Singapore:PG | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Aguaruna Lands, Peru

Company:

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Trivia:

This was the first Werner Herzog film with Klaus Kinski. It was the start of an extremely stormy, and sometimes violent, professional relationship that lasted 15 years,

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The "dead" Indian slave opens his eyes as the horse walks by.

Quotes:

Don Lope de Aguirre:Perucho, don't you think the cannon might be a little bit rusty?
Perucho:It might.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Neues aus der Anstalt: Den Menschen ein Wohlgefallen (#3.10)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes (Lacrime Di Re)

**** out of ****

Stunning, dreamlike film documents (in a somewhat documentary style), the story of Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), who leads a group of Spanish conquistadors into the depths of the jungle in search for El Dorado, the mythical city of gold. Beautiful cinematography and locations place the viewer into the heart of the jungle, where they witness firsthand Aguirre's descent into madness. Continually interesting and exciting, it features some of the greatest images ever committed to film, most notably the opening and closing shots of the movie.