Aguirre, the Wrath of God

How this film uses it

The Amazon does not care about the conquistadors, and that slowly becomes overwhelming. Herzog films the river, the jungle and the mist as a world with no place for human ambition. It simply goes on, swallows things and silences them. The landscape is sacred in the sense that it can't be translated. It sits beyond human meaning, and humans still have to find their way through it.

Where to see it

The raft sequences on the river. The jungle closes in around the expedition. The main thing the images tell you is that the landscape has no interest in human purpose.

How this film uses it

Herzog shot in the actual Amazon with a tiny crew. The handheld style came out of necessity and ended up defining the film. The unsteady camera makes the jungle real. In every pan through the undergrowth and every shot from the edge of the raft, a camera operator is in physical contact with the place you're looking at.

Where to see it

The raft navigation sequences. The handheld camera tips with the movement of the raft. You feel the physical reality of the jungle in how unsteady the image is.

How this film uses it

Aguirre is obsessed with El Dorado and with his destiny as emperor. That obsession drives every member of the expedition toward death. Within the film's logic, nobody questions it. It is simply there and it is absolute. It bends reality around itself until only Aguirre and the monkeys are left.

Where to see it

Aguirre's final monologue to the monkeys. He delivers his obsession to an audience that can't understand it. By this point, the delusion is total and needs nobody else.

How this film uses it

Aguirre starts as a subordinate who takes power through murder. He ends alone on a raft of corpses, surrounded by monkeys. Each act of violence that raised him up is turned into a loss. The jungle returns him to nothing. The conqueror's empire shrinks to the one territory he can't control.

Where to see it

The final raft sequence. Aguirre walks among the dead as the raft circles. His empire is down to monkeys, and the reversal is complete.

How this film uses it

The Amazon moves in one direction and the expedition can't reverse it. The current gives the story its logic. Each stretch downstream is a stage in the group's madness. The water carries the survivors further from civilization and closer to falling apart. The river passes no judgment on any of it and simply keeps flowing.

Where to see it

The raft's slow progress downriver. The current drives the story. The movement downstream follows the descent from ambition to delusion to silence.