History Film / AguirreTheWrathOfGod

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The entire expedition goes utterly wrong. Everybody dies, and the last scene is Aguirre completely snapping while drifting along the Amazon, surrounded by monkeys and corpses. Historically, Aguirre would eventually be captured and executed by the Spanish.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Really in this case, everyone will die. By the end of the movie the only characters that aren't explicitly dead are Aguirre, Inés, and Ursúa's right hand man. The latter two's fate are more ambiguous, but with both them alone in the jungle, it's doubtful they will survive. Likewise Aguirre is last seen alone on a the raft that has been attacked by the natives multiple times. The real-life Aguirre was ultimately shot and dismembered by the Spanish for his rebellion.]]

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Averted. Some animals get it pretty rough, what with getting pushed around and yelled at and being left in the hands of a giant madman. Although Herzog later set all the monkeys free, by pretending to be a veterinarian and telling the trappers the monkeys needed to get shots before they could be sold to collectors.

** The real Aguirre was physically the exact opposite to Klaus Kinski, being short and black-haired (not to mention Kinski is also fully shaven, which would have been pretty unusual in a time and place that operated under ManlyFacialHair standards). His intentions to marry his own daughter are also entirely fictional, that we know at least.

* ApocalypticLog: The journal of Gaspar de Carvajal, the supposed basis of the movie.[[note]]The real Carvajal ''did'' write [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_de_Carvajal#The_Relaci.C3.B3n_and_Carvajal.27s_mark_on_history an account]] of his voyage on the Amazonas, but it's not an apocalyptic log in real life and the quotations are fictitious.[[/note]]

** In real life, Aguirre's daughter was named Elvira, not Flores. No mention is made in the film that both she and Inés were mestizas, which should have been brought up in their talk with Baltasar, but given that they are both portrayed by Mexican actresses, this may be still implicit in the film.
** The real Aguirre was physically the opposite to Klaus Kinski, being short and black-haired. His intentions to marry his own daughter are also entirely fictional, that we know at least.

** In the film, the narration refers to their Inca auxiliars as slaves, with some of them being randomly chained like hostages and fulfilling no apparent job in the expedition. By this point of real life, however, indigenous slavery was fully outlawed in the Spanish Empire, and even before, it used to be allowed only as a punishment for revolting against the crown or whenever the indigenous themselves handed their own slaves as a tribute, none of which is explicitly the case here.
** Baltasar claims to be a former high prince of the Inca whose people was enslaved by the Spaniards without provocation, an event that would have been not feasable at any point of the conquest of America. His actor even looks too young for the character to have reigned back when a possible rebellion would have made them eligible to slavery. Even if it was the case, his own nobiliary status would have spared him that fate (either that ir if he was a ringleader, he would been imprisoned and/or executed).

** The point about Amerindians being weirded out by black people was TruthInTelevision, so much that, in a curious incident after the conquest, some black slaves acquired by indigenous aristocrats died when their bewildered owners boiled them alive in an attempt to make them white. However, there is no record that the Pizarros ever attempted to weaponize this in the Amazonas as in the film. Had they wanted, they would have likely employed black conquistadors, as they had no shortage of those (Francisco Pizarro himself had two conquistadores mulattos in his entourage, Juan García and Miguel Ruiz), instead of forceful slaves.
** Aguirre mentions that UsefulNotes/HernanCortez was given the order to return in midst of his way to Mexico, only that he chose to defy it and keep on. In real life, Cortés actually received the order back when his fleet was still in port. This deviation might be chalked up in-universe to Aguirre not knowing the exact details or, given that he is using it as a motivational example, him tweaking it deliberately in order to liken it to their own situation.
** Aguirre also fantasizes at one point with invading Mexico and conquer it from Cortés' hands. In reality, by the point of history the film is set, Cortés had been dead for thirteen years (not to mention he had left his job as governor of New Spain seventeen years before his death), and Mexico was governed by Viceroy Luis de Velasco. Again, Aguirre might be just losing touch with reality here, if he ever had it to begin with.

** The point about Amerindians being weirded out by black people was TruthInTelevision, so much that, in a curious incident after the conquest, some black slaves acquired by indigenous aristocrats died when their bewildered owners boiled them alive in an attempt to make them white. However, there is no record that the Pizarros ever attempted to weaponize this in the Amazonas as in the film. Had they wanted, they would have likely employed black conquistadors, as they had no shortage of those, instead of forceful slaves.

* TooDesperateToBePicky: Two members of the party are so hungry near the end of the movie that they resort to eating algae from the raft.

* AndeanMusic: One of the natives accompanying the expedition has a ''siku'' pan flute and [[https://youtu.be/UJC91C6KvYY plays it at times]], serving as SourceMusic. The melody is part of the film's soundtrack by the band Popol Vuh also.

* AndeanMusic: One of the natives accompanying the expedition has a ''siku'' pan flute and [[https://youtu.be/UJC91C6KvYY plays it at times]], serving as SourceMusic. It is part of the film's soundtrack by the band Popol Vuh also.

* AndeanMusic: One of the natives accompanying the expedition has a ''siku'' pan flute and plays it at times, serving as SourceMusic. It is part of the film's soundtrack by the band Popol Vuh also.

* AndeanFlute: One of the natives accompanying the expedition has a ''siku'' pan flute and plays it at times, serving as SourceMusic. It is part of the film's soundtrack by the band Popol Vuh also.

''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of Creator/WernerHerzog's first films, released in 1972. It is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of UsefulNotes/LopeDeAguirre, a 16th-century Spanish conqueror that explored the jungles of South America. At the start of the film, a large expedition under UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro's brother Gonzalo sends ahead a scouting party, consisting of Don Pedro de Ursúa, Don Lope de Aguirre (Creator/KlausKinski) and others. Of course, [[RiverOfInsanity being alone in the jungle starts driving the people mad]], and Aguirre above all.

* AxCrazy: Aguirre.

** The film's plot starts out as a fictional version of the expedition of UsefulNotes/FranciscoDeOrellana, with Aguirre's in his own place, before diverging into a fictional ending where [[spoiler:they are all implied to die still on the Amazonas river.]] Orellana himself was mentioned in the original script as the leader of a previous expedition, and was supposed to be the owner of the ship perched atop the trees, but none of it appears in the final film.

** In the film, the narration refers to their Inca auxiliars as slaves, some of them even being randomly chained like hostages and fulfilling no apparent job in the expedition. By this point of real life, however, indigenous slavery was fully outlawed in the Spanish Empire, and even before, it used to be allowed only as a punishment for revolting against the crown or whenever indigenous themselves handed their own slaves as a tribute, none of which is explicitly the case here.
** Baltasar claims to be a former high prince whose people was enslaved by the Spaniards without provocation, an event that would have been not feasable at any point of the conquest of America. His actor even looks too young for the character to have reigned back when a possible rebellion would have made them eligible to slavery. Even if it was the case, his own nobiliary status would have spared himself that fate (either that or, if he was a ringleader, he would been imprisoned or executed).

** The point about Amerindians being weirded out by black people was TruthInTelevision, so much that, in a curious incident after the conquest, some black slaves acquired by indigenous aristocrats died when their bewildered owners boiled them alive in an attempt to make them white. However, there is no record that the Pizarros ever attempted to weaponize this in the Amazonas as in the film. Had they wanted, they would have likely employed free black conquistadors, as they had no shortage of those, instead of forceful slaves.

** Aguirre also fantasizes at one point with invading Mexico and conquer it from Cortés' hands. In reality, by the point of history the film is set, Cortés had been dead for thirteen years (not to mention he had left his job as governor of New Spain seventeen years before his death), and Mexico was governed by Viceroy Luis de Velasco. Again, Aguirre might be in-universe losing touch with reality here, if he ever had it to begin with.

* PuttingOnTheReich: Herzog wanted to use the Spaniards in the film as a metaphor for Nazi imperialism, and this is reflected in the soundly Aryan Kinski portraying the leader conquistador with delusions of {{Ubermensch}}, as well as the scene where the expedition extravagantly mistreat their only black expeditioner in a show that real life conquistadors would have found bizarre.

''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of Creator/WernerHerzog's first films, released in 1972. It is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of UsefulNotes/LopeDeAguirre, a 16th-century Spanish conqueror that explored the jungles of South America. At the start of the film, a large expedition under Gonzalo Pizarro sends ahead a scouting party, consisting of Don Pedro de Ursúa, Don Lope de Aguirre (Creator/KlausKinski) and others. Of course, [[RiverOfInsanity being alone in the jungle starts driving the people mad]], and Aguirre above all.

* AdiposeRex: Fat, gluttonous and lazy Guzmán is cynically made leader of the expedition and Emperor of El Dorado. It comes to a head when, in the middle of a meal, he is distracted by a jumpy horse, and some of the men use the opportunity to eat the remains of his feast.

* BoobyTrap: Early in the film, a Spaniard exploring the jungle walks into a sling which draws him up into a tree by some unseen contraption. Moments later we see blood dripping from above, revealing that the man has met his doom, although we do not see how.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Aguirre loves his daughter. Maybe even [[IncestSubtext too much]]...

* FatBastard: PlayedWith for Don Fernando de Guzmán. He's overweight and goes along with Aguirre as his puppet king; however of all the traitors, he's the least malicious and much less prone to [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]]. Even the scene showing his gluttony, when he gorges himself on their low supplies whilst his men starve, is played for laughs when they all just steal his food when he's not looking.

* GoodIsDumb: The considerate and noble-minded Don Ursúa is indeed very easy prey for Aguirre and his cronies.

* HopeSpot: Guzmán spares Don Ursúa from immediate execution, so he'll later free himself and save the day, right? [[spoiler:Wrong. Ursúa spends the rest of the movie wounded, and when he seems to have finally recovered a bit, he is hanged on Aguirre's orders.]]

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: An Indian slave talks of how he was once a member of the upper caste in the Incan empire, and no-one dared look him in the eye. "Now it is I who has my face lowered to the ground." This also foreshadows how the Spaniards will be humbled.

* SaharanShipwreck: An abandoned ship is found atop a tree in the middle of the jungle. The original script expanded this into an actual subplot[[note]]The Amazon sometimes has drastic changes of water flow so it's actually not ''that'' far-fetched for a ship to end up trapped in a tree[[/note]] but the final cut leaves it ambiguous and it might as well be a figment of the men's imagination, since they are all mad at that point. Since ''Aguirre'' is the ultimate RiverOfMadness story, this is actually very fitting.

** Aguirre's line "What is a throne but a plank red with velvet?" is an authentic quote from UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte.

** How the ship came up into the treetops is never resolved. In the DVDCommentary, Herzog reveals that the ship originally was part of a subplot that was dropped in the course of filming; it was intended to be a real ship, not a hallucination. He has not explained how the ship came up there.