Aguirre: The Wrath of God

 Number 326 on the top 1000 films of all time is Werner Herzog's epic historical drama 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God.'

Aguirre (Klaus Klinski) is a soldier who is marching through the Andes Mountains in the search for the legendary lost city of El Dorado.

While the soldiers were looking for El Dorado, I was looking for an interesting film to watch. As Aguirre was boring with a capital B. It is low on action and high on characters staring into space saying nothing.

I understand this was partly down to Herzog's tiny budget. He couldn't afford any big action scenes. Fair enough, but the constant monologue and philosophising became tedious after a while. It hardly made for the most exciting of cinema.

It was also difficult to empathise with Spanish conquistadors who not only massacred all and enslaved the indigenous populations, but were so stupid they took horses and cannons into the jungle.

Reportedly, Klaus Klinski was an ogre on set, constantly coming to verbal blows with cast and crew. But he brought none of that energy to the role of Aguirre. I expected him to have a larger-than-life persona, but instead he remains in the background, simply pulling the strings, like a puppet-master who hides behind the curtain, because he's afraid to see his audience. He did not make for an interesting protagonist.

Finally, the crew also had trouble recording the sound, so much of the dialogue had to be dubbed. While this couldn't have been helped, it was not a good dub, and it was distracting.

I really did not like this film. It was a tedious affair with stupid characters and a boring protagonist.