Burden of Dreams (1982)

Director:

Les Blank

Writer:

Michael Goodwin (narration)

Release Date:

1 October 1982 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A documentary on the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's epic 'Fitzcarraldo' , showing how the film...

Plot Keywords:

Director | German | Peru | Amazon | Camera

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Huerequeque Enrique Bohorquez	...	Himself (as Huerequeque Bohorquez)
Claudia Cardinale	...	Molly / Herself
Carmen Correa	...	Herself
Nelson De Rio Cenepa	...	Himself
Elia De Rio Ene	...	Himself
Alfredo De Rio Tambo	...	Himself
Miguel Ángel Fuentes	...	Himself
Father Mariano Gagnon	...	Himself
Werner Herzog	...	Himself
Paul Hittscher	...	Himself
Evaristo Nunkuag Ikanan	...	Himself
Mick Jagger	...	Wilbur
Klaus Kinski	...	Fitzcarraldo / Himself
José Lewgoy	...	Himself
Laplace Martins	...	Himself
Thomas Mauch	...	Himself
David Pérez Espinosa	...	Himself
Ángela Reina	...	Herself
Jason Robards	...	Fitzcarraldo
Walter Saxer	...	Himself
Jorge Vignati	...	Himself

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Amazon Basin, Brazil

Company:

Flower Films

Quotes:

Werner Herzog: [On the jungle] Kinski always says it's full of erotic elements. I don't see it so much erotic. I see it more full of obscenity. It's just - Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Walking to Werner (2006)

Walls in the Jungle

Here's a remarkable phenomenon.

"Fitzcarraldo" is to my measure a special film, meaning that it evokes in me a profound and lasting response. Indeed, I have it on my list of films you really must see (if you take me seriously). Elsewhere, I have celebrated this filmmaker, and how the twists in his being seem to (at least in this period) have created work that matters.

This is a documentary on the making of that film. Its made by a good filmmaker himself. It tells the tale, an interesting story. And it features two segments of Herzog on the scene, speaking coherently and somewhat poetically of the disruption that is the jungle. Its disturbing in its own right.

So what's wrong? Something significant, I think. Watching this takes much of the richness, the lush smell, out of "Fitz."

It explains it. It flattens it. It surrounds it with a story that is clear and thus takes away the space it naturally has for us to surround it with our own story.

Not all great art works this way, but some apparently does: it designates holes that we readily fill with ourselves and stitch together with the story our life might have been, or might not have. The design of "Fitz" is such that it contrasts the real (meaning "natural") with the stylized (meaning "civilized"). It has a simple spine that we can read and ignore while we understand instead the invisible lace of inner lust, lonely desire.

We need the space that surrounds it. We need the madness, the jungle, the lack of containing story. Its what we fill in with the jumble of our own jungles.

Seeing this takes away the experience of "Fitz." Its not just another case of an encounter with a filmmaker being less rewarding than an encounter with his (her) film. Its a matter of story walls where there shouldn't be.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.