Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Aguirre, the Wrath of God opens on a long, extended establishing shot of a mountain, with a twisting trail carved through it. Dozens upon dozens, perhaps even hundreds of men march this trail, in pursuit of riches. By the end of the film, we’re left with only a handful of these men, as they fight their way through dangerous terrain loaded with danger at every turn, including an indigenous population fighting the invaders off under the cloak of the jungle.

Spanish conquistadores came to the Americas in search of riches, and this is the story of one such expedition looking for a fabled city of gold, the legendary El Dorado. Werner Herzog, who wrote and directed the film, combined a number of historical expeditions and condensed them into a single story about a man, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), who is driven mad in his quest for fortune. Aguirre is already quite a man when the story begins, plotting coups behind the scenes and establishing puppet dictators in charge of the expedition. One by one, he’s finally calling the shots. By then, any semblance of humanity he once had is long gone.

It's hard to define what makes a film great. Sometimes it’s something tangible, and sometimes it’s an intangible vibe. Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a great film that takes the audience on an adventure. It plumbs the depths of the human soul. It pulls back the curtain and lets us peer in, to view ourselves and our dreadful nature that appears all too often. At the end, when the film ends, we’re left breathless. As a character study, Aguirre has a fascinating subject, a megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to accomplish his task of finding a city that does not exist. And as an adventure, it’s exhilarating, journeying into dangerous terrain plagued with pitfalls at every turn. And we watch, in morbid fascination, as the large cast of the expedition dwindles down, fewer and fewer, as Aguirre loses more and more of his humanity.

Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski’s tumultuous friendship/rivalry was the stuff of legends and the work that they put in together is equally illustrious. Aguirre, Fitzarraldo, and Herzog’s remake of Nosferatu makes brilliant use of the intense actor. Throughout his life, Kinski battled his demons and has been accused of monstrous behavior. Knowing this, and watching his performances, sometimes the lines blur together. Herzog shot Aguirre on a low budget in a nearly documentarylike fashion, simply staging the action on location in a jungle and shooting it with a handheld camera just as he saw it.

I first saw Aguirre, the Wrath of God years ago on DVD when Anchor Bay released it. I loved it then and I love it now. Seeing it in this format, beautifully restored by Shout Select and larger than life, I was drawn into it, hypnotized by its intentional pace and the simple, elegant score by Popol Vuh. During this era, Herzog’s films often felt like quasi-travelogue features, with long stretches of natural scenery merely existing, majestically and powerfully. There’s an undeniable magic to the film, the way it absorbs you into it. Aguirre inspired another masterpiece, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, a story about madness that grows in intensity as we get closer to the end of our journey.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Shout Select has released Aguirre, the Wrath of God in a two-disc set, with the film on both 4K UHD Blu-ray, and 1080p HD Blu-ray. While both discs contain the audio commentary tracks, only the Blu-ray disc features the theatrical trailer and still galleries. The discs arrive in a standard case containing a slipcover that features identical artwork.

For this release of Aguirre, the Wrath of God, a new 4K transfer was commissioned and the film was remastered from its original 35mm camera negative. It was then graded in Dolby Vision HDR (HDR10 compatible) for playback presentation on this disc. The results are quite often stunning. Aguirre isn’t an overly flashy movie and was shot on location in a jungle with very little equipment (and a camera that had been stolen from the Munich Film School), other than what was completely necessary. The HDR grading allows the purples of the conquistadores’ costumes to pop brilliantly, contrasted with the vivid green of the jungle locations. The realism of the shadows helps the jungle feel alive. Because much of the film is shot with a wider lens, much of it is in focus, a wise decision from the cinematographer Thomas Mauch. A lot of these kinds of films, shot fast and furious, with a low budget, have issues with action going in and out of focus, but Aguirre remains sharp throughout and fine details are clearly visible. A healthy amount of film grain is apparent throughout, too.

There are three sound mixes available: German 5.1 surround, German 2.0 stereo and English 2.0 stereo, all encoded in DTS-HD MA. I toggled back and forth between them and I think it’s a toss-up between the German surround and stereo mixes. They both have a lot of unique strengths and weaknesses to them. I understand the film was originally shot in English and when the filmmakers had audio issues with poor quality, they re-dubbed the whole thing into German. The English mix on this disc is not original audio, it’s a dub on top of a dub. And, quite often, it feels muffled.

The two German mixes are equally excellent, and I give the edge to the 5.1 surround mix, just barely. It’s really well done. Ambient effects feature into the surrounds constantly, from rushing rapids, chirping birds, rustling leaves and buzzing insects. Cannon fire and other explosions make their way to the subwoofer. The surround mix does a wonderful job at enveloping the listener and the soundstage. The 2.0 stereo mix, a front-only affair, sounds a bit clearer. Dialogue clarity is a bit better—sharper and louder. But it does lack that enveloping ambient atmosphere.

Whatever your preference, you should be more than satisfied. Both mixes were brilliantly realized.

While there aren’t a ton of features on here, there are TWO commentary tracks by Werner Herzog: One in English and one in German. Listening to him speak about his work is like attending a mini film school course and here you get two of them. Much of the same info is repeated, but the German one is moderated and subtitled.

• Audio Commentary – Writer/Director Werner Herzog (English)
• Audio Commentary – Writer/Director Werner Herzog (German), moderated by Laurens Straub and subtitled in English
• Trailer
• Photo Gallery

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is an incredible piece of filmmaking, epic in scale and epic in realization. And the story of its making is no less interesting, with director versus star and the entire cast and crew versus the elements of nature. Shout Select’s 4K restoration looks incredible and the available sound mixes are no slouch, either. Though the supplemental features are small in number, those commentary tracks are a wealth of knowledge. Aguirre on 4K UHD Blu-ray from Shout Select comes very, very Highly Recommended.