Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Er, obviously I didn't see it at the cinema). I'd heard how good it was, that Kinski gave a really unhinged performance, that it was visually breathtaking, highly atmospheric etc. All signs pointed to me liking it, but when I finally saw it I thought it was pretty disappointing.
Maybe it was my high expectations, but it just didn't do it for me, or at least it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. It started off well; the opening scenes are breathtaking, as the conquistadors traverse that narrow mountain path. The mood is set almost immediately, and the film certainly has a great deal of atmosphere. But for some reason it never seemed to go anywhere, and after a while I found myself somewhat bored - I just wasn't enjoying it. The plot started to plod (there's a lot of sitting about on the riverbank looking dishevelled), and Kinski was surprisingly reserved (I later found out that he wanted to act like a madman, whereas Herzog wanted a more restrained performance). You never really get to know any of the characters, not even Aguirre, so there's no emotional connection when they die off. On top of that, the supporting actors aren't particularly strong.
There some great moments alright; I particularly [spoiler]liked Aguirre firing a cannon at the corpses of his companions, the murder of two non-believing natives, and the hanging of Aguirre's superior.[/spoiler] But in between the highlights were many monotonous scenes. I suppose that's the point, to show the tedium of their journey to nowhere. But it's hard to maintain interest in such an expedition. I'd hate to call a film boring because that usually indicates a poor attention span on the part of the reviewer, but it certainly started to drag.
To make matters worse, the general grimness was punctured by some totally out-of-place slapstick moments, such as one of the men (or rather the head of one of the men) continuing to talk after he has been beheaded, and another breaking the fourth wall with a comedic one-liner once he's been hit with a spear. These moments only served to take me out of the film even more. The spear and arrow wounds were pretty badly done too, very unconvincing effects; but I suppose that's nit-picking.
Before I knew it, [spoiler]everyone but Aguirre had been dispatched by the natives, at which point monkeys overtake the raft.[/spoiler] The end. To say it concludes (if you could call that a conclusion) on an unsatisfactory note is an understatement, and it feels as if the preceding hundred minutes have been for nothing. Which I suppose is the point. Doesn't make it any less of a let-down.
