"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" 1972 95 minutes This is a German film about Spanish explorers and conquerors in Latin America-- Peru and the rivers of the Amazon Basin. It comes with some German mythology relevant to Hitler's fall, but mostly it could serve as an example of the perils of any white colonialism of the last 500 years. When one considers the high percentage of explorers who died in travel on their sea-ships and when one considers how difficult it was to live in America after living in Europe, it does seem that initial settlers and explorers do have to be regarded as insane or close to it. Much credit has gone to Klaus Kinski for playing the part of a ruthless explorer. The explorers pursue gold and control of land, but they fall out amongst themselves, kill each other and suffer more deaths at the hands of cannibals and other indigenous peoples. At the time, it was an effective indigenous tactic to give the whites what they wanted--a path to gold--because once the whites set out to find the gold they became blinded. They fought amongst themselves and attempted to handle nature in an overly hasty manner. To kill a few dozen explorers through a combination of their greed and ignorance was thus easy. Today the advances of the humyn species have spread far and wide. There is no need for cannibalism or settlers. It is even more difficult to sympathize with settlers today than those of the past who killed so many indigenous people. The average white persyn should watch this film in fascination. The fascination will arise because the oppressor nation population of the imperialist countries will still feel considerable sympathy for these Spanish Conquistadors. Here is what Roger Ebert had to say: "What Herzog sees in the story, I think, is what he finds in many of his films: Men haunted by a vision of great achievement, who commit the sin of pride by daring to reach for it, and are crushed by an implacable universe." For the average white of the imperialist era, it will be a combination of things pointing to failure, and will thus be interesting to the white persyn of the imperialist era from within his or her own twisted ideology. To the environmentalist or indigenous sovereignty activist, the end met by the expedition was richly deserved from the beginning. Even one of the oppressed First Nation people in the film who says he was once a prince before the Spaniards arrived says that he feels pity for the Spanish and the bitter end about to befall them. The voice of pity goes to the white wimmin who seem dragged along for the ride. We can say the same of the slaves who also met their deaths. Today, it is difficult for the proletarian to watch this without thinking: "when will these evil conquerors and explorers meet their just ends?" It is clear that the white men of the expedition have no good motivations; yet somehow the humyn species has progressed since the days of the Conquistadors. Despite the intentions of cannibals and gold-crazed explorers, the humyn species has chalked up some achievements since the time of the Conquistadors. Note: http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/aguirr.html