Aguirre, the Wrath of God

"One of the great haunting visions of the cinema. Of modern filmmakers, Werner Herzog is the most visionary and the most obsessed with great themes." —Roger Ebert, Great Movies

In the mid-16th century, after annihilating the Incan empire, Pizarro leads his army of conquistadors over the Andes into the heart of the most savage environment on earth in search of the fabled City of Gold, El Dorado. As the soldiers battle starvation, Indians, the forces of nature, and each other, Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), "The Wrath of God," is consumed with visions of conquering all of South America and revolts, leading his own army down a treacherous river on a doomed quest into oblivion. Featuring a seething, controlled performance from Klaus Kinski, this masterpiece from director Werner Herzog is an unforgettable portrait of madness and power. It marks the first of five collaborations between Kinski and Herzog, who were notorious for frequently clashing (legend goes Herzog threatened Kinski at gunpoint when the actor threatened to walk off the set of Aguirre).

Restoration courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive.

Werner Herzog began his filmmaking career at the young age of 19 and, over the next six decades, established himself as one of cinema's eminent directors - and among its most daring. A leader of the New German Cinema movement, with a wealth of celebrated documentaries and influential fiction features, a modest career in front of the camera, and a voice that can soothe any soul, Herzog is as intense a figure as the characters he puts on screen. Roger Ebert put it best: "[Werner Herzog] gave me a model for the film artist: fearless, driven by his subjects, indifferent to commercial considerations, trusting his audience to follow him anywhere. In the thirty-eight years since I saw my first Herzog film, after an outpouring of some fifty features and documentaries, he has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular."

We are pleased to present new restorations of four of Herzog's most celebrated works: Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Nosferatu the Vampyre, and Fitzcarraldo. These four films showcase the themes he has found most enthralling throughout his prolific career: men with unusual obsessions, the futile struggle against nature, and the pursuit of images never yet seen.

A $30 series pass that grants admission for one person to all 4 films in the series is available for purchase.

Check out the rest of our Herz So Good: Four by Werner Herzog program!