History · Adventure · Drama
German (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes)
1972 · Directed by Werner Herzog · 95 min
In the 1560s, a Spanish expedition leaves the Andes and heads down an unmapped Amazon tributary, hunting for the golden city of El Dorado. As the river closes in, a restless officer named Aguirre begins to make his own claims about who should lead. Part adventure and part hallucination, the film is a descent into obsession.
Why it matters in cinema history
A cornerstone of the New German Cinema and a landmark of the jungle-quest film. It shaped a whole line of films about madness, colonial greed and nature that does not care about human plans.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a film about a landscape that slowly overwhelms the people who think they can command it.
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