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Author Topic: Unexpectedly Dwarvenly Movie  (Read 1037 times)

Percival

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Unexpectedly Dwarvenly Movie
« on: February 16, 2010, 01:34:47 pm »

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (in English)

IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068182/

A 1972 German movie written and directed by Werner Herzog, starring Klaus Kinski in the title role. It's a fictionalized account of a real Spanish expedition in the Peruvian Amazon, in 1560. A few Spanish noblemen led a group of conquistadors and slaves down the Amazon river to find El Dorado.

I could go on and on about how great a movie it is, how it portrays the human condition, how great and compelling Kinski's performance is (his performance could be considered the granddaddy of all portrayals of sociopaths; Heath Ledger's Joker and Christoph Waltz's Landa are two recent examples that come to mind), etc.

But what makes a movie about 16th century humans floating on a raft, with no digging, a dwarvenly movie?

In short, it's a tale of avarice and zeal, cupidity and industry, or whichever random word combination you like the best.

But here are some specific points of dwarvenliness:

1. The conquistadors are motivated by shiny.
2. The idea of going on an insane and impossible expedition in an entirely hostile environment.
3. The men gradually go insane and throw tantrums (mainly just Aguirre himself, but still).
4. People die left and right due to unpredictable disasters.
5. People die left and right due to predictable disasters.
6. Nobles are a constant problem, and there is a lot of effort to both appease them and dispose of them.
7. Monkey rush!
8. Arrows coming out of the trees!
9. Armor and swords and other vaguely fantasy-genre-related stuff.

Watch it if you can! It might have a little bit too much of an "art house" aesthetic and pace for most, but give it a shot if it sounds interesting. I'm confident that it will appeal to at least a few DF fans, because they are DF fans.
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Sunday

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Re: Unexpectedly Dwarvenly Movie
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2010, 04:07:37 pm »

This is one of those movies that I've always wanted to see but never really been in the mood for.  But it does sound like a lot of fun.

OT, but I also want to see the new Bad Lieutenant.
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nil

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Re: Unexpectedly Dwarvenly Movie
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2010, 04:40:21 pm »

Has Herzog ever made anything not worth watching?