Jungle Fever - Aguirre, The Wrath Of God At 50
When Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski set off down the Amazon, choppy water was the least of their worries..
A version of this piece appeared in The New European.
When Werner Herzog was a young man, his family rented a room to an actor called Klaus Kinski. An intense person at the best of times, the Polish-born Kinski was prone to fits of manic behaviour. One evening, while at his wit's end, Kinski locked himself in the toilet and proceeded to smash up the fittings. For 10 straight hours. When he eventually left, Herzog discovered that the actor had destroyed the toilet bowl and sink so completely, he could "sieve the remains through a tennis racket."
Despite this colourful encounter, Herzog was a great admirer of Kinski's acting work. Indeed, the wild man's performance in the German war drama Sons, Mothers And A General so impressed the director that it became his ambition to work with the man who'd set about the Herzog family lavatory. The picture that brought the man together was 1972's Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (the 'The' is sometimes omitted), the story of a Conquistador who goes looking for El Dorado and discovers only murder and mayhem. It was an experience that very nearly killed the both of them.
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