Region:
DVD Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33:1)
Audio: 5 full-range channels. Includes 3 for the front speakers, 2 surround channels for rear speakers, & 1 low-frequency effects (LFE) channel to carry deep bass effects
  PCM mono
  PCM stereo
Language: German, English
Subtitles: English
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

The most famed and well-regarded collaboration between New German Cinema director Werner Herzog and his frequent leading man, Klaus Kinski, this epic historical drama was legendary for the arduousness of its on-location filming and the convincing zealous obsession employed by Kinski in playing the title role. Exhausted and near to admitting failure in its quest for riches, the 1650-51 expedition of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro (Alejandro Repulles) bogs down in the impenetrable jungles of Peru. As a last-ditch effort to locate treasure, Pizarro orders a party to scout ahead for signs of El Dorado, the fabled seven cities of gold. In command are a trio of nobles, Pedro de Ursua (Ruy Guerra), Fernando de Guzman (Peter Berling), and Lope de Aguirre (Kinski). Traveling by river raft, the explorers are besieged by hostile natives, disease, starvation and treacherous waters. Crazed with greed and mad with power, Aguirre takes over the enterprise, slaughtering any that oppose him. Nature and Aguirre's own unquenchable thirst for glory ultimately render him insane, in charge of nothing but a raft of corpses and chattering monkeys. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1973) was based on the real-life journals of a priest, Brother Gaspar de Carvajal (played in the film by Del Negro), who accompanied Pizarro on his ill-fated mission. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

Few actor/director relationships were more combative than that of Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog (most manage to creatively negotiate without resorting to the threat of lethal violence), but fewer still so dramatically brought out the best in each artist. Before Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Kinski was a fine actor who made a career out of starring in third-rate films, while Herzog was a skillful filmmaker whose works often lacked the clear focal points they needed. But with Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Kinski finally had a role worthy of his gifts as the gloriously mad conquistador Aguirre, and Herzog had a leading man whose bizarre but inarguably potent charisma made him impossible to ignore; tgoether, they brought a bizarre, surreal story to vivid and sweaty life. While Kinski and Herzog would make four more films together, Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes remains perhaps the best work either man ever did; the final shot, of the psychotic Aguirre, doomed but glowing with what he believes to be triumph, standing tall on a raft overrun with monkeys, is just the sort of image that this pair of mad geniuses could have only created together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide