Aguirre: The Wrath of God

I am convinced of this film’s brilliance in pacing and mood, but still must own up to the fact that long stretches of it bored me. The audience should wait, and wait, and finally realize nothing is going to happen, just as Aguirre’s crew did, and it drove them mad! But was I on the edge of my seat waiting; was I invested in what I was waiting for? Honestly, no. That’s a paradox that makes judging this film difficult for me: Herzog did all the right things, but I didn’t care! Oh well. Nevertheless, amidst the waiting there are some brilliantly, bizarrely hilarious moments. Aguirre is an amazing character, and Kinski embodies him with a believable ferocious madness. The ending was absolute perfection. So this is probably what I would cite as an objective masterpiece. A personal masterpiece? No, but I liked it very much.