History Film / AguirreTheWrathOfGod

* 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, [[RefugeInAudacity by pretending to be a veterinarian and telling the trappers the monkeys needed to get shots before they could be sold to collectors]].

The film kickstarted Herzog’s career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. According to legend, Herzog directed Kinksi at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and merely threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film. RogerEbert regularly lists it on his top ten movies of all time.

* ForegoneConclusion: The OpeningScroll reveals that the expedition is lost. Depending on the subtitles, this may get lost for non-German viewers. Not realizing or forgetting that the ending is already clear is often crucial when this movie gets bad reactions.

* BilingualBonus: Given that Werner Herzog is German, it might be interesting to note that the German name for squirrel monkeys is ''Totenkopfäffchen'' - "skull monkeys".

* BilingualBonus: Given that Werner Herzog is German, it might be interesting to note that the German name for squirrel monkeys is ''Totenkopfäffchen'' - "death's head monkeys".

* 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 entirely fictitious.[[/note]]

** Two cases of wacky BlackComedy that often strike viewers as bizarre are actually shout-outs to Literature/TheIcelandicSagas: The severed head counting 'ten' and the lethally wounded man commenting "the long arrows are becoming a fashion" are scenes taken nearly word-for-word from ''Njál's Saga'' and ''Grettir's Saga'' respectively. The latter instance is, however, not in the English dub.

* BilingualBonus: Given that Werner Herzog is German, it might be interesting to note that the German name for squirrel monkeys is ''Totenkopfäffchen'' - "skull monkeys".

* BilingualBonus: Given that Werner Herzog is German, it might be interesting to note that the German name for squirrel monkeys is ''Totenkopfäffchen'' - "death's-head monkeys".

* MainstreamObscurity: ''Aguirre'' is highly regarded by movie critics and cinephiles, but it is not widely known.

* TheBlindLeadingTheBlind: Nobody of them has a clue where they are going, but they push on like crazy.

** Two cases of wacky BlackComedy that often strike viewers as bizarre are actually shout-outs to Literature/TheIcelandicSagas: The severed head counting 'ten' and the lethally wounded man commenting "the long arrows are becoming a fashion" are scenes taken nearly word-for-word from ''Njál's Saga'' and ''Grettir's Saga'' respectively. The latter instance is, however, eliminated by the English dub.

* MadArtist: Kinski. Once he became so angry with some crewmen playing cards that he shot at them through their tent. He ended up [[{{Fingore}} blowing off the top of a man's finger]].

* 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 ...

* FamousLastWords: After being hit by a spear, a soldier says calmly before falling into the river, "I thought it would hurt much more than this."[[hottip:*:The English dub (sadly) alters the much wackier original line, which went [[GallowsHumor "The long arrows are becoming a fashion"]]. See ShoutOut below.]]

* {{Shout Out}}s

* HungryJungle: See RiverOfInsanity.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Herzog wanted Aguirre to be the epitome of TranquilFury, but Kinski wanted to produce a raving madman (more akin to his personality). To get his wish, Herzog would intentionally provoke Kinski into unleashing all his fury off-camera. By the time [[StealthPun shooting began]], Kinsky was exhausted, creating the performance that Herzog desired.

The film kickstarted Herzog’s career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. According to legend, Herzog directed Kinksi at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and merely threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film.

'''Aguirre, the Wrath of God''' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of WernerHerzog’s first films. It deals with the voyage of Spanish conquerors to South America, in which a separate group is formed by Don Pedro de Urzúa, Don Lope de Aguirre (KlausKinski) and others. Of course, [[RiverOfInsanity being alone in the jungle starts driving the people mad]].

** Two cases of wacky BlackComedy that often strike viewers as bizarre are actually shout-outs to the Literature/IcelandicSagas: The severed head counting 'ten' and the lethally wounded man commenting "the long arrows are becoming a fashion" are scenes taken nearly word-for-word from ''Njál's Saga'' and ''Grettir's Saga'' respectively. The latter instance is, however, eliminated by the English dub.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The story is a conflation of the historical Pizarro-Orellana expedition of 1541-42 with the Ursúa-Aguirre expedition of 1560, seasoned with a taste of Joseph Conrad's ''HeartOfDarkness''.

* [=~It's Quiet... Too Quiet~=]: Then the natives appear.

** Two cases of wacky BlackComedy that often strike viewers as bizarre are actually shout-outs to the IcelandicSagas: The severed head counting 'ten' and the lethally wounded man commenting "the long arrows are becoming a fashion" are scenes taken nearly word-for-word from ''Njál's Saga'' and ''Grettir's Saga'' respectively. The latter instance is, however, eliminated by the English dub.