| Wrath of God |
[Aug. 4th, 2008|10:54 pm] |
"When we reach the sea, we'll build a bigger ship...and sail north to take Trinidad from the Spanish crown. Then we'll sail on and take Mexico away from Cortes. What great treachery that will be! Then we shall control all of new Spain... and will produce history as others produce plays. I, the Wrath of God... will marry my own daughter... and with her i'll found the purest dynasty... the earth has ever seen. Together we shall rule the whole of this continent. We'll endure. I am the Wrath of God. who else is with me?"
I've been feeling somewhat feverish lately. Its been a strange drifting summer.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/19/aguirre.html
I just finished watching Herzog's tribute to Kinski, "Mein Liebster Feind"
It's interesting with Herzog, this idea of impotent genius. The irrational gesture of art as a megalomania, pulling the boat over the mountain, played out against the backdrop of colonial history, third world sorrow. White people are so neurotic .. everything is so mental. We live separated from nature, trapped in our technology ... afraid of the body, in a way.
Herzog is a kind of odd 19th century romantic striving ever forward, the director as ubermensch, daring the world to reveal itself to him. Film-making is all about finding the right moment, capturing it. I love how image-based he is. Film-making is the great art form of our age, in its dependency on funding and teamwork, and Herzog even plays with that, risking everything for the shot. The romantic, at least, believes in something. To believe in art is what helps us transcend, its a kind of spiritual quest, away from material claims. A kind of gnostic battle.
Or is it just a European illness? The fallacy of European self-aggrandizement? One thing is clear, humility doesn't get you very far these days. |
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