About

'The jungle of 'Aguirre' is never some lush, beautiful environment there for decoration, as it might be in a television commercial. It's a representation of our most intense and forceful dreams, our deepest emotions and nightmares. With its madness and confusion, the place becomes a vital part of characters' inner landscapes, taking on almost human qualities.' - Werner Herzog

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is one of cinema's greatest depictions of madness. The film follows Lope de Aguirre and a group of 16th Century conquistadors as they travel down the Amazon River in search of El Dorado and its mythical riches. Klaus Kinski — in the first of his five collaborations with Herzog — delivers a lead performance of singularly feverish intensity, capturing the monomaniacal obsession and delusion of his character. The film itself has lost none of its nightmarish power over the past half century. Herzog cultivates a sense of growing doom that engulfs the film, imbuing even its most beautiful images with a pronounced sense of disquiet.