Directed by Werner Herzog | 157 mins | 1982
The making of Herzog’s epic film about the endeavors of Irish entrepreneur Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle is perhaps as fascinating as "Fitzcarraldo" itself, as was stunningly documented in Les Blank’s "Burden of Dreams"—the story of a director’s five-year obsessions to match those of his antihero. In their fourth pairing, Herzog gave Kinski another seemingly tailor-made role (although in this case he was a replacement for Jason Robards, who had to drop out well along in the production), and there may be no more iconic image in all of Herzog’s dreamy-looking cinematic output than that of dozens of Peruvian natives hauling a 320-ton steamboat up over a steep hill—an unbelievable “special effect” that Herzog actually accomplished.