History Film / AguirreTheWrathOfGod

The film kickstarted Herzog's career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. [[TroubledProduction The filming was said to be a nightmare]]. This is the film that gave rise to the legend of Herzog directing Kinski at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and that he merely threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film.

* BurningTheShips: After promoting Don Fernando de Guzmán to "Emperor of El Dorado", Aguirre makes Carvajal write a letter to King Philip of Spain which declares not only their defection from Spain, but also the "overthrow" of the House of Habsburg and the "dethronement" of Philip. The letter is kept by Aguirre, who in this way makes sure that Guzmán and the rest cannot bail out of their rebellion, as the letter is incriminating proof of their complicity.

* 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.

* 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.]]

* 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.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[MisaimedFandom When the going gets tough, the tough get going. No matter what, never give up!]]]]

The film kickstarted Herzog's career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. [[TroubledProduction The filming was said to be a nightmare]]. This is the film that gave rise to the legend of Herzog directing Kinski at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and that he [[SarcasmMode merely]] threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Aguirre is surprisingly quiet and restrained -- for a cruel, deluded madman anyhow. "Quiet menace" describes him well.

** 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 ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''.

''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 Urzúa, 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.

* 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 Urzúa'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.]]

** Guzmán makes a point not to execute Urzúa but rather to try him, and later defies Aguirre by sparing the man.

* StupidEvil: Aguirre's followers betray their commander Urzúa and go downstream on the Amazon in search of El Dorado. [[spoiler:They all die. Turns out that taking orders from a raving evil lunatic wasn't a very good idea]].

** Armando, Urzúa's right hand man, is never seen again after escaping his cage.

''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of Creator/WernerHerzog's first films, released in 1972. It deals with the journey of 16th-century Spanish conquerors through 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 Urzúa, 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.

* 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."

* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Many scenes. A few of them, like an initial shot of a tumultuous river, don't have actors included.

* MacGuffinLocation: El Dorado -- The CityOfGold.

* ProtagonistTitle

* TheAmazon: Duh.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** The real Aguirre's rebellion got a bit further than this one: They reached the Atlantic, seized Isla Margarita, and invaded mainland Venezuela, where he was surrounded by loyal Spanish forces and shot.
** In reality, Aguirre murdered his own daughter shortly before his death.

* 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 ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''.

''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of Creator/WernerHerzog’s first films, released in 1972. It deals with the journey of 16th century Spanish conquerors through the jungles of South America, in which a separate group is formed by Don Pedro de Urzúa, 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.

The film kickstarted Herzog's career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. [[TroubledProduction The filming was said to be a nightmare]]. For example, according to legend, Herzog directed Kinski at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and that he [[SarcasmMode merely]] threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film.

* 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, some of the men use the opportunity to eat the remains of his feast.

* AnnoyingArrows: A variation - by the end, the men are simply too exhausted and delirious to feel pain when they're hit by arrows.
-->'''Okello:''' That is no ship. That is no forest. [thunk] That is no arrow.
* AnyoneCanDie:[[spoiler: Really in this case, everyone will die. By the end of the movie the only characters that aren't dead are Aguirre, Inés, and Urzúa's right hand man. The Latter two's fate are more ambiguous and with both them alone in the jungle, it's debatable if they will survive. Likewise Aguirre is last seen on a the raft that has been attacked by the natives multiple times and the real life Aguirre was ultimately dismembered.]]

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Aguirre is surprisingly quiet and restrained - for a cruel, deluded madman anyhow. "Quiet menace" describes him well.

* BurningTheShips: After promoting Don Fernando de Guzmán to 'Emperor of El Dorado', Aguirre makes Carvajal write a letter to King Philipp of Spain which declares not only their defection from Spain, but also the "overthrow" of the House of Habsburg and the "dethronement" of Philipp. The letter is kept by Aguirre, who in this way makes sure that Guzmán and the rest cannot bail out of their rebellion, as the letter is incriminating proof of their complicity.
* CampingACrapper: Guzmán is murdered on a visit to the toilet.

* ChewingTheScenery: You're half afraid he's going to ''eat'' that monkey.

* {{Determinator}}: Aguirre will never ever give up. Eventually deconstructed as [[spoiler: everyone dies because of his insane quest and he mentally snaps while surrounded by enemies.]]

* EvilAllAlong: While the evil intentions of Aguirre and Perucho get obvious very soon, it will come as a surprise to most first-time viewers that [[spoiler:Carvajal]] is playing for the evil team.

* GenreDeconstruction: ''Aguirre'' can be watched as a genre deconstruction of the 'jungle adventure' movie genre. A group of (mostly) white explorers ventures into an unknown land in pursuit of a fabled city of gold -- but there is no lost city, no treasures to be won, no battles to be fought, and no secrets to be discovered - the river and jungle just go on and on forever. The good guys perish together with the bad guys, killed more or less evenly by either the implacable jungle, or by each other, and nobody learns anything from it.

* 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.]]

* LosingYourHead: Taking a rest after the storming of an Indian village, Aguirre notices two soldiers sitting somewhat apart discussing desertion. One of them says that he has counted the river bends they passed. He draws a map into the sand and is counting out the river bends to his companion as Perucho approaches quietly from behind with a machete. When the man is at 'nine', Perucho swipes his head off, and we get a shot of the head lying on the ground, counting 'ten'.
* MacGuffinLocation: El Dorado - The CityOfGold.

** 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 ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' respectively. The latter instance is, however, not in the English dub.

* StupidEvil: Aguirre's followers betray their commander Ursua and go downstream on the Amazon in search of El Dorado. [[spoiler:They all die. Turns out that taking orders from a raving evil lunatic wasn't a very good idea]].

* FingerlessGloves: Aguirre wears them.

* StupidEvil: Aguirre's followers betray their commander Ursua and go downstream on the Amazon in search of El Dorado. [[spoiler:They all die. Turns out that taking orders from a raving ChaoticEvil lunatic wasn't a very good idea]].

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: They give a powerful effect to the ending.

* 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 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.

-->'''Ochello:''' That is no ship. That is no forest. [thunk] That is no arrow.

* FamousLastWords: After being hit by a spear, a soldier says calmly before falling into the river, "The long arrows are becoming a fashion." The English dub changes this to, "I thought it would hurt much more than this."

* SceneryPorn: The Amazon fall its death indeed is

%%* OpeningScroll:

%%* SceneryPorn

* SpoilerCover: The [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517foppBYlL.jpg original poster]] shows the death of Aguirre's daughter with an arrow in her stomach, which happens late into the movie, with Aguirre being completely unfazed by it.

* 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, some of the men throw a horse into the water to distract him and eat what remained of his feast.

* AdiposeRex: Fat, gluttonous and lazy Guzmán is cynically made leader of the expedition and Emperor of El Dorado.

* CassandraTruth: Inez warns Ursúa of Aguirre's rebellious scheme, and Aguirre of what she calls "God's punishment". Both warnings are unheeded.

* LeftHanging: The ultimate fate of Armando and Inez, and also Aguirre himself.

** Inez walks off into the forest after getting fed up with the whole expedition and is never heard from again.

''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (''Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes'') is one of Creator/WernerHerzog’s first films, released in 1972. It deals with the voyage of 16th century Spanish conquerors to South America, in which a separate group is formed by Don Pedro de Urzúa, 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.

The film kickstarted Herzog's career and was the first of several collaborations with Kinski. [[TroubledProduction The filming was said to be a nightmare]]. For example, according to legend, Herzog directed Kinski at gunpoint when the actor refused to follow his commands. Herzog insists that the story is apocryphal, and that he [[SarcasmMode merely]] threatened to shoot both Kinski and himself should the actor choose to quit the film. Creator/RogerEbert regularly listed it on his top ten movies of all time.

* RiverOfInsanity: The whole plot.