Fitzcarraldo
International Arthouse
•
2h 37m
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.
Up Next in International Arthouse
-
Land of Silence and Darkness
Directed by Werner Herzog | 85 mins | 1971
After a childhood accident caused her an eventual loss of vision at 15 and hearing at 18, Fini Straubinger spent the next 30 years of life bedridden. But by age 56, when she became the subject of Herzog’s documentary feature, she had found her inner stre... -
Lessons of Darkness
Directed by Werner Herzog | 54 mins | 1992
Saddam Hussein ordered the withdrawal from Kuwait at the end of February, 1991, bringing the Gulf War to a nominal close—but the Iraqi troops would wreak a trail of destruction in their retreat: implementing a scorched earth policy, they set fire to arou... -
Heart of Glass
Directed by Werner Herzog | 95 mins | 1976
As in "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972), Herzog here combines images of misty mountains majesty and the haunting sounds of Popol Vuh with the story of a descent into madness—tripped in this 18th century Bavarian village by the death of the master glassb...
