Aguirre, The Wrath of God

In the 16th century, the ruthless Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado. A trip into the heart of darkness, Herzog’s mix of historical storytelling and documentary styling delivers an immediacy rarely found in period tales. Anchoring the brutal, bleakly farcical dissection of colonial arrogance and cruelty is Klaus Kinski’s hypnotizing madman with delusions of grandeur.