We watched this heavy and somber film, directed by Carlos Saura, as it was shown on cable recently. "El Dorado" kept reminding us of better made films such as "Fitzcarraldo", or even "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", both superior films because of the amazing contribution of Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog to the genre. These two men put to shame what Mr. Saura has done to "El Dorado".
Again, we are taken to Peru, where the conquering Spaniards are searching the legendary gold, the rich commodity that seems elusive to them and the big scale mission undertaken by Ursua and his men. Little prepared these Spanish invaders to what they were really going to have to face in their quest for riches. Alas, the mission for finding the gold is a total failure and El Dorado just another myth, never have been found.
The Europeans only brought their diseases, greed and cruelty to the new world. We wonder how the native culture, in the conquered lands, would have fared if these men who thought they had the power to exterminate and make them practical slaves to their whim, never found them. For one thing, they might have survived better with the customs and rituals they had practiced before the advent of the white man. A lot of suffering would have been spared if these poor natives would have been left alone.
Mr. Saura doesn't add anything new with this film to his otherwise interesting career in the cinema.
Again, we are taken to Peru, where the conquering Spaniards are searching the legendary gold, the rich commodity that seems elusive to them and the big scale mission undertaken by Ursua and his men. Little prepared these Spanish invaders to what they were really going to have to face in their quest for riches. Alas, the mission for finding the gold is a total failure and El Dorado just another myth, never have been found.
The Europeans only brought their diseases, greed and cruelty to the new world. We wonder how the native culture, in the conquered lands, would have fared if these men who thought they had the power to exterminate and make them practical slaves to their whim, never found them. For one thing, they might have survived better with the customs and rituals they had practiced before the advent of the white man. A lot of suffering would have been spared if these poor natives would have been left alone.
Mr. Saura doesn't add anything new with this film to his otherwise interesting career in the cinema.