Werner Herzog Retrospective: Get the ultimate education on one of documentary's greatest auteurs.
Possibly Werner Herzog’s most notorious and best-known film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God tells the haunting story of a doomed Spanish expedition searching for El Dorado, the mythical city of gold somewhere deep in the dense Peruvian jungle. As the group travels further into the wild, their leader Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) descends further into madness, ruling with a reign of terror and leading his men aggressively towards destruction. Aguirre is legendary for its influence on other classics such as Apocalypse Now as well as the arduous on-location production rumours, including Kinski’s show-stopping antics and Herzog’s threat to murder his star—a volatile yet productive relationship that is chronicled in My Best Fiend (screening here Monday, August 8). The film's pure energy and Kinski’s crazed zeal are unforgettable here, in what Roger Ebert has called “one of the great haunting visions of the cinema.”
Aguirre makes a great companion piece to Fitzcarraldo (screening here Sunday, August 7), another Herzog/Kinski collaboration about an impossible task set against an unforgiving landscape in Peru.
In German, Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles.
Catch four films in the Herzog retrospective for only $40 (Members: $28, $20, Free) with our package deal.