Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (writer)

Release Date:

10 October 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Music

Plot:

The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of the Peruvian jungle.

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Jungle | Mountain | River | Amazon

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald - 'Fitzcarraldo'
Claudia Cardinale	...	Molly
José Lewgoy	...	Don Aquilino
Miguel Ángel Fuentes	...	Cholo
Paul Hittscher	...	Captain (Orinoco Paul)
Huerequeque Enrique Bohorquez	...	Huerequeque (The Cook) (as Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez)
Grande Otelo	...	Station master (as Grande Othelo)
Peter Berling	...	Opera Manager
David Pérez Espinosa	...	Chief of Campa Indians
Milton Nascimento	...	Blackman At Opera House
Ruy Polanah	...	Rubber Baron
Salvador Godínez	...	Old Missionary
Dieter Milz	...	Young Missionary
William Rose	...	Notary (as Bill Rose)
Leoncio Bueno

Runtime:

158 min

Country:

Peru | West Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (re-rating) (1986) | USA:PG | West Germany:12 (bw) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Amazon Basin, Brazil

Company:

Filmverlag der Autoren

Trivia:

Jack Nicholson was originally set to star in "Fitzcarraldo" but left production.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During one of the boat drifting scenes, crew members can be seen at the top of the boat, including a man wearing jeans who tries to avoid being spotted by the camera.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Portrait Werner Herzog (1986)

Soundtrack:

Opera in Manaos

post-war Germany's great romantic

Like Fitzcarraldo, Herzog has a well-known passion for opera--he's been known to conduct on occasion and refers to music as the territory of "ecstatic truth." Film, too, has that potential, if it's released from the literal and the director concentrates on the importance of "great images." It's no surprise, then, that Herzog made Fitzcarraldo without a well-defined narrative goal. He just wanted to see if he could do it.

Filmmaking is a personal and social process for him, not a finished product. It's an extreme version of method acting. Like Fitzcarraldo's lifting of the boat, grand gestures go far for Herzog, if only to show the world that you're great and visionary enough to try. Most of his characters are done in by their obsessive drive (Fitzcarraldo's boat crashing into the rapids, Aguirre madly pacing about on his raft), but leave behind something beautiful. Like a boat being dragged up a mountain in Peru with ropes and pulleys or a gun depot going up like the 4th of July.

You can't give Herzog too much credit--he's been more careful not to be done in by his hubris than any of his characters were. In fact, he's capitalized on it, much the same way Cappola did after Apocalypse Now or Hopper did after Easy Rider. No doubt, the tales of his misadventures contribute as much to his films' popularity as the stories and images themselves, and he's been quick to market his persona with books, talks, and films about himself, the mad director.

But still, Herzog is a great romantic that was born of a time and place (Munich, 1942) with few romantics, which is its own great feat. See Fitzcarraldo for a little bit of that.