Written by: Werner Herzog
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jose Lewgoy
Rated: PG
Plot
The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, known as Fitzcarraldo, an extremely determined man who wants to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
Verdict
It's an incredible movie about determination and folly. What can a man accomplish through sheer will? Fitzcarraldo plans to pull a steam boat over a mountain, and as crazy as that is he convinces people to help him. It's part metaphor and part spectacle. The amazing thing is the movie production crew legitimately did exactly that without any special effects.
Watch it.
Review
A man wants to build an opera house in the middle of the jungle mainly because he likes opera. Fitzcarraldo is bidding nature to do his will, and it's all folly. He's trying to conquer nature, putting an opera house where no one will hear it. That's also the point, man destroys nature for folly.
Fitzcarraldo puts people in harms way for his own gain. You could call him a fool just as the people convinced to follow him are fools. His passion won them over, and that's a scenario that plays out in the real world time and again.
I assumed pulling the boat over the mountain was typical film production and not a feat actually accomplished, but when the boat is later in rapids, striking the rocks it looked too real. I had to look it up. The most violent rapids scenes were filmed with a model, but the film crew really did pull a 320-ton steam ship over a mountain with the help of the indigenous people. No special effects were used, and that's just crazy. Herzog believed no one had ever performed a similar feat.
Kinski wasn't the first choice for the role of Fitzcarraldo. He's known for his tantrums, and he has a tumultuous working relationship with Herzog. The indigenous people acting in the film were so upset by Kinski's on set behavior that a chief offered to kill Kinski for Herzog. Herzog declined, stating he needed Kinski to finish filming.
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