(Spoilers ahead.)
Machu Picchu, Peru. The opening scenes would be shot on a nearby mountain. Film-maker Werner Herzog set off along the mountainside with nearly 450 people—actors, actresses, and crew. With them were horses, pigs, and llamas. The rain was torrential, the mountain face treacherously slippery. They found an ancient stairway carved into stone, built by the Incas centuries ago. Nothing was visible ahead but clouds upon clouds. Through paths shrouded in dense fog, the group climbed the mountain. Many wore the heavy costumes and armor of ancient Spanish conquistadors. The altitude was extreme—even locals fell ill up there. This grueling journey to make a film seemed like another film in itself! The group climbed higher still. Now they were perched at a sheer 2000 feet. Eventually they reached their destination. There, the fog was so thick that peering through the camera lens revealed only a few feet ahead. Herzog despaired. Had all this struggle been in vain? In such conditions, shooting was impossible! Suddenly the clouds thinned, daylight gradually broke through. Herzog captured the shot. Through the breaking mist on the steep mountainside, artists climbed upward while the camera rolled. What should not have happened was happening. It was as if nature itself was orchestrating everything. Klaus Kinski, Herzog’s friend who played the protagonist Aguirre, seemed to become even more reckless in those treacherous conditions! His role in the film was that of an obsessive, mad leader. The merciless weather turned merciful, the film moved forward. “That day I realized making this film was written in my destiny.” This is the story behind the making of ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972),’ shown in Werner Herzog’s documentary ‘My Best Fiend (1999)’ about his bitter relationship with actor Klaus Kinski.
Battling hostile nature, hacking through jungle, a group advances toward El Dorado, the city of gold. They don’t know which way to go or whether the city even exists—they only know they must reach it first, claim its wealth, extend their empire to El Dorado. Along the way: countless dangers, obstacles, disasters. They must conquer everything to reach that golden realm. This struggle between man and nature, however pointless, driven by greed for worldly riches and dreams of expanding power—’Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ is the tale of certain men’s rage, madness, and resolve caught between these forces. History tells us Aguirre was a warrior who took pleasure in tormenting others. When he set out in search of El Dorado, he overthrew the group’s leader and took command himself. He was by nature mad, reckless. He gave himself the name ‘The Wrath of God.’ He declared himself both El Dorado and king of New Spain. With a band of followers, he ventured into the unknown in search of El Dorado. When he reached the Atlantic Ocean, only a few of his followers remained alive. Ultimately, he never reached that golden kingdom. This arrogance, these illusory dreams, this pointless struggle against distant, hostile nature—all this inspired Herzog to make this film. In one interview, Herzog said, “Aguirre is one of history’s greatest unfortunates.” But in this film, he reconstructed history through cinematic language and framework. Moving somewhat away from actual events and circumstances, he sketched the portrait of a greedy, reckless, obsessed, imperialist warrior who becomes desperate in his search for wealth and power, and in his quest to conquer a utopia, brings death upon himself and his followers.
The film begins with a monk’s diary. The expedition leader Pizarro becomes frustrated with the mission’s slow progress in the jungle. Through thick mud and filth, they advance through the forest, dragging horses and cannons. A woman is carried in a palanquin. Exhausted and despondent, Pizarro decides to rest briefly. During this time, Aguirre cunningly seizes control of the group. He places a nobleman named Guzman in the ceremonial position of leader while making all the group’s decisions himself. He is brave, indomitable, single-minded. He wants complete control over the golden city, comparing their expedition to the conquest of Mexico. As their raft moves through jungle waterways, local cannibal tribes spot them and cry out joyfully: “Look, meat is floating by!” Several die from the cannibals’ poison arrows. Suffering from hunger and disease, Aguirre and his companions gradually lose their minds. They’re searching for El Dorado, a city whose very existence they cannot confirm. Though everyone else despairs, Aguirre’s resolve remains unshakeable, intoxicated by dreams of wealth and empire. We see him survive to the end, standing among piles of corpses with his head held high, declaring: “We shall write history!”
Before filming began, Herzog had gone to Peru’s jungle to speak with local indigenous people, confirming that what he planned to create was possible. He arranged tents for 450 people at that location, including 270 local mountain dwellers. A character named Hombrechito plays the flute in the film—Aguirre loves hearing the flute. This was a local man whom Herzog had great difficulty persuading to act. The jungle’s harsh conditions during filming meant the artists had to adapt to that environment, which clearly influenced the film itself, making it remarkably realistic. Where they pitched their tents was beside a river. Suddenly, floodwaters from the river swept away their tents—Herzog captured the entire team’s reaction on camera and incorporated it into the film. Even the raft-building scenes are completely authentic. Due to the river’s strong current, the floating scenes were captured in single takes; during some shots, the artists’ lives were genuinely endangered. While filming the final scene, Herzog had to endure unbearable attacks from monkeys!
In one scene, we see a man counting from one to ten. Before he reaches ten, another man strikes his head from his body with a fierce sword blow from behind. We see the severed head roll away and complete the count: “Ten!” In another scene, Ursua’s wife, who wears a blue dress throughout the film, appears to us in white and gold robes, looking ghostly. How does she die? What we’re shown—is it her disembodied spirit? Or did she, unable to bear the torment, willingly sacrifice herself to the cannibals? In another scene, one of Aguirre’s followers sees a sailing ship in the treetops. How did it get there? Water couldn’t have risen that high. Did it fall from the sky? Or did some massive jungle creature or supernatural being place it there? Near the film’s end, a slave traveling with Aguirre on the raft comments that the ship isn’t real, nor is the jungle. Everything is imaginary, illusory. When an arrow pierces his leg, he says this arrow too is illusory. They fear arrows, so arrows appear in their imagination. The final scene: Aguirre stands alone on that cursed raft. He keeps saying he will endure, survive, conquer this kingdom. Around him on the raft are countless monkeys. He picks up a monkey and gazes toward the sky with some hope or perhaps defiance. The real inhabitants of his imaginary kingdom are these monkeys, who behind his victory cries are actually mocking him for his utter helplessness. No one listens to him—perhaps not even God. He remains alone on that river, frustrated and helpless. Aguirre had gone mad with dreams of wealth and empire. He had staked his life on an expedition to become ruler of such an illusory kingdom that had no existence whatsoever. Humans destroy their present by chasing such future mirages.
After the rebellion shown in the film, Ursua’s wife goes to their traveling priest and begs him to save Ursua from Aguirre. The priest’s position in this story is allegorical. When flowers bloom in a field, everyone sees and praises them. When a sudden wind comes and blows the flower away, no one remembers it afterward. Surviving with success is the final word. The priest wanted to show light to a group for whom darkness itself seemed like light. Thus the priest too had to surrender to fate. It’s possible the priest, like all the others, had to pay the price for greed and illusory dreams. A local prince who was translating for Aguirre’s group tells us: “I was the prince of this kingdom. No one could look directly into my eyes. But now I am chained, forced to bow my head like my kingdom’s subjects. Everything has been taken from us. I can do nothing, I have no power. Yet I also grieve for your fate, because there is no way to escape from this jungle… Here the jungle is the jungle within the mind. Our thoughts and beliefs chain our feet. Even such philosophy and warning stirred nothing in Aguirre’s mind. Finally, he had to pay dearly for his mad obstinacy and pointless greed.
Now, why did Aguirre keep Guzman as their group’s leader? Guzman had no leadership qualities, he was no one important in the group. Actually, this was a diplomatic move, rather like establishing a puppet government. The one who should hold all power has none at all. Thus all responsibility and power for governing El Dorado would rest in Aguirre’s hands, but if anything went wrong with his actions, all blame would first fall on Guzman as the kingdom’s head. This would allow Aguirre to establish authority without worry. What is the role of the cannibal tribes in the film? However mighty Aguirre considered himself, he and his group were helpless before the indigenous people. There is no absolute power on earth. Nothing can ever be completely conquered. There’s always someone cleverer above the clever, always a father above the father. From some myth, the locals already knew that foreigners would come to conquer their kingdom. They were mentally prepared. Without sufficient strength and planning, relying only on emotion and stubbornness, Aguirre and his group had tried to conquer a new kingdom without knowing the way or understanding the place—which was utter foolishness. Greed is a strange thing. It pays no heed to logic, learns nothing from reality. When combined with pointless obstinacy, it completely destroys a person’s existence. Their journey had hunger, disease, physical suffering, and attacks from local tribes. Yet they pressed on. Behind that stubbornness was one driving force: the desire to conquer the golden kingdom!
Aguirre’s goal was not gold but power and fame. Let us hear from his own mouth: “I, Aguirre, if I wish it, living birds will fall from trees to the ground like dead birds. I am the wrath of God! The earth trembles with fear when I walk upon it! But whoever follows me and my path will possess infinite wealth. And whoever abandons me…” Yes, Aguirre was the wrath of God—that’s why he met such a fate! God was enraged by His child’s such frenzied behavior, and that wrath burned Aguirre to ashes. Throughout the film, a local inhabitant traveling with them plays the flute. What does this mean? The flute’s melody here symbolizes life’s simple form. Rather than falling into the trap of excessive greed for others’ wealth, being content with what one has and living with life’s small joys is the real secret to peace and comfort. In the film, Ursua lives on despite losing power and suffering. He says nothing to anyone. Why? He initiated this pointless expedition driven by greed, leaving behind his own empire’s certain happiness and comfort to embark on conquering a new kingdom, toward an uncertainty—this foolish journey toward the unknown brought his death agony. This infinite suffering is what he deserved.
We see in the film that while everyone else starves, the incompetent leader Guzman lacks nothing to eat. At his wish, the horse was set free, then someone came and murdered him by strangulation. While he lived, he hadn’t hanged Ursua, had shown mercy. Immediately after his death, Ursua was hanged. The judge changed, so did the judgment. This is reality. When judges don’t change, judgments don’t change—such theoretical talk applies only to ordinary helpless people. Ursua’s wife walks away toward the jungle. She knows cannibals are there, yet to her, that probable death seems preferable to dishonor at Aguirre’s hands. Aguirre’s greed has claimed his only loved one shown in the movie—his daughter. Before his eyes, his child’s cruel death; the helpless father has no power to save his child—what greater punishment could there be in a father’s life? After his daughter’s death, Aguirre says: “I, the wrath of God, will marry my own daughter. Through this I will establish this world’s purest royal dynasty. We shall rule this entire kingdom. I am the wrath of God! Who else stands with me?” Intense greed combined with utter despair blinds him. He cannot abandon his dream of living as sovereign of an empire built on blood’s purity. His arrogance and defiance have isolated him, yet he refuses to bow his head to the end.