"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