Aguirre, Wrath of God Blu-ray SteelBook Release Detailed

The British Film Institute has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Werner Herzog's classic film Aguirre, Wrath of God, starring starring Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Allejandro Repulles, and Helena Rojo, The release will be available for purchase on May 19th.

A visceral, ambitious exploration of megalomania and savage beauty, Aguirre, Wrath of God remains one of Herzog's most brilliant achievements and one of German cinema's totemic masterpieces.

Coming to Blu-ray for the first time on 19 May 2014 in a Limited Edition SteelBook, it will also be included in mammoth Herzog Blu-ray and DVD box sets released in July. The SteelBook contains both English and German versions of Aguirre, four other Herzog films, including Last Words and Fata Morgana, and feature-length audio commentaries with the director for both Aguirre and Fata Morgana.

Shot entirely on location in the wild Amazonian jungle near Machu Picchu, Aguirre, Wrath of God stars the legendarily volatile Klaus Kinski as Don Lope de Aguirre, a power-crazed sixteenth-century explorer who leads a troupe of conquistadors on a doomed expedition in search of El Dorado, the fabled 'City of Gold'.

This was Herzog's first of five tempestuous collaborations with Kinski who gave what is arguably his greatest ever performance as Aguirre. With his sinister, tilting walk and demonic gaze, Kinski endows Aguirre with an eerie restraint, a threatening unpredictability.

Integral to the film is the hypnotic score by Florian Fricke of Krautrock band Popol Vuh.

Special Features:

• Limited Edition SteelBook
• Original mono audio (German and English)
• Alternative 5.1 Surround audio (German)
• The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (Werner Herzog, 1967, 16 mins): symbolic drama about four young men hiding from an imagined enemy
• Last Words (Werner Herzog, 1968, 13 mins): short film about the last man to leave a former leper colony
• Precautions Against Fanatics (Werner Herzog, 1969, 11 mins): short satire about horse-racing enthusiasts
• Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog, 1971, 77 mins): hallucinatory film exploring mirages and the Mayan creation myth
• Feature-length audio commentaries with Werner Herzog for both Aguirre, Wrath of God and Fata Morgana
• Original theatrical trailer
• Stills gallery
• Illustrated booklet with a new essay by Laurie Johnson, full film credits and on-set photographs