Aguirre is reasonable. Lope de Aguirre holds a prominent place in Latin American history as the man who promulgated the continent’s first declaration of independence from Spanish rule and raised the banner of rebellion to bring this bold and centuries-old idea to life. True, he committed this historical act quite by accident, so well, after all, Columbus discovered America by accident.
Werner Herzog in his famous film “Aguirre, the wrath of God” realizes his vision of this accident – this is the fruit of the mental illness of a pathological power lover who, on the way of realizing his delusional idea, ruthlessly destroyed some, and subordinated others to his powerful but blind will. It is not for nothing that he pronounces his famous declaration in the finale in front of the monkeys, all the other members of the expedition died, and he himself lives out the last minutes, but before death, madness does not let him go - this is, of course, a metaphor (Herzog does not at all ceremony with history and facts in his work), but a very powerful metaphor ...
This is the version of the German director, and it certainly has its right to exist, but also the interpretation of the same historical events, but from a different angle, which Carlos Saura provided, also deserves a careful and balanced view – a normal, reasonable person in an abnormal, disastrous situation desperately fights for life and freedom (but without idealization: “reasonable” in the sense in which in the criminal world “brother” is distinguished, for example, from “scumbag”. Conquistadors, if different from the ordinary "gentlemen of luck", then for the worse, despite being formally considered officers and soldiers of the Spanish crown. Aguirre, during the years of his military service, spent most of it, following the orders of the commanders, on the looting of Indian graves and cemeteries. .
Despite the fact that the film is called “Eldorado”, the real search for the legendary state, where even toilets made of gold, takes a relatively small, initial time. A further spring of action is the understanding of most of the expedition participants that they have fallen into a cunning, deadly trap and it is urgent to figure out how to get out of it. To make this clear, we need to take a look at the past decade. The Vice-Kingdom of Peru was shaken by an incessant series of riots. The fact is that it accumulated a huge number of veteran conquistadors who felt bypassed in the division of the loot. They considered it shameful to integrate into the economic life of the colony: they crossed the ocean and risked their lives a thousand times not to pick the ground, but to get rich, and get rich immediately. Of course, this is the perfect human material for orchestrating all sorts of conspiracies and insurrections, and while the Spanish government had an effective means of suppressing them all (more on this below), the constant instability in the region forced the search for more radical means. We decided to use an old Indian fiction. Those who found that the victorious “white devils” had only one weakness—they were willing to go to hell for gold—have vindictively placed their fake in the most deadly place they know, the Amazon jungle. And now the authorities again announced a great hunt for gold - and the trap joyfully climbed most of the Peruvian rebels, finally ended the vegetation and again went big business!
Now after the euphoria came a heavy hangover - you have to turn back before everyone dies in this green hell. However, this is thoughtful: at the head of the expedition is Don Pedro de Ursois (Lambert Wilson), who in his relatively young years made a brilliant career, and this young rising star is entrusted with this great mission ... Life was successful - the governor's post, the love of the beautiful dona Ines (Gabriel Roel), in the near future - countless wealth ... And he returns, having lost everything (position, career, love, freedom itself, since the crown gave him only a patent for an expedition, and the money for it he hardly borrowed on the security of future treasures - then for many years a debt prison ...), - no, he will go to the end, let him die here than rot in prison ...
So among his subordinates, who did not want to die, there was a conspiracy (a matter as familiar to them as breathing...). The first fiddle in it is played by the leader of the influential fellow Basques Lope de Aguirre (Omero Antonutti), but he not only does not seek to take the vacant place after the murder of Ursua, but also is not among the closest assistants of the newly elected leader Fernando de Guzman (Eusebio Poncele), but remains, albeit influential, but still a second-row man. This is not a trick, let alone modesty, but a sober, hard calculation. The means by which the authorities defeated all the rebellions was the widest amnesty of the rebels - only the leader and one or two of his closest associates were executed, the rest of the "genuinely repentant" were completely forgiven and could continue conspiring, fighting with government troops, or with the rebels, as his soul wished. The reason for such soft power was, of course, not mercy, but necessity. The insurgents could become a terrible force that would sweep away everything (the Spanish infantry was then the strongest in the world, and its veterans were then the special forces) only in two cases - either they are connected by common benefit, or - common danger. In the absence of these bonds, they could stop fighting at any time, regardless of whether they lost or defeated their troops. We had a little water, let off steam, it’s time to go to repentance. Of course, Aguirre had no desire to become the leader of such a public. But you can't escape fate. .
His fate was Dona Ines, who pretended only for the sake of appearance that she had come to terms with the death of her lover, that she was quite satisfied with the share of being the mistress of this or that influential officer. In fact, she swore that none of the nine traitors would escape death. Pushing the rebels against each other, she achieved that only Guzman and Aguirre remained alive from the nine, and remained not in friendship. Who will strike first? Aguirre was more agile...
Now for him began the classic Spanish role - the attack of Don Quixote windmill: how to achieve the impossible, so that this rabble remained faithful to him? The course went ruthless terror against participants, causing even the slightest suspicion of their loyalty, and against the captured population of the island of Margarita - an attempt to tie everyone with blood ... But realizing that one stick will not achieve much, he offered his colleagues a luxurious carrot - the whole New World. They will land in Panama, freed Negroes, equalized Indians and mestizos will pour into their ranks. In the new independent state, each officer will be the governor, each soldier will be the mayor of the city.
Such, in Saura’s interpretation, was the mechanism of the great accident. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, he refused to explain the film itself – and the unprepared viewer, to understand what is happening, you need to look for third-party sources of information. So all of the above attempts to connect them to the film...