I saw Saura's El Dorado, which deals with the same story, a long time ago - little after its release. Herzog's version I saw in full only recently. It is partly by comparing the two that I come to realize why the shootings led to such vicious enmity between Herzog and Kinski. Kinski used to be (maybe still is) the star of all stars in German cinematography. But even if he is there, in front of the camera, most of the time, his Aguirre remains somewhat tangential to the movie - Kinski does not develop his character, Aguirre is the same obsessive maniac in the beginning as in the end, and the actor might reasonably question why Herzog made him play a role which does not really require great skill or presence. But even so, Aguirre remains the strongest character in the movie - the others, including his daughter, are like phantoms without flesh and weight. Saura's reading was rather different - his story recreated a much more complex Aguirre who moved to the top of the expedition as a result of a series of assassinations which were not started by him. And his end was much more dramatic (even when based on the same original account, the sequence of events in Herzog's and Saura's scripts is significantly different). That is because Saura was interested in the people, in the evolution of characters, and of ideas - his Aguirre proclaimed independence from Spain out of desperation, not out of greed. While Herzog was interested in the destructive power of nature over humans - a theme which he continues to work upon (see his Grizzly Man!). The real focus of his version is the landscape, not the insignificant monkey-like creatures on board of this ludicrous raft (the monkeys which took over the raft in the end were a good allegory for the failed conquistadors). The river, the mountain, the jungle, this is what Herzog wanted to shoot - and he did it great. Whether it would be Kinski or another monkey on board the raft, there would be no difference. Then you understand why Kinski hated Herzog.
Review of Aguirre, the Wrath of God
