Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Considered by many to be Werner Herzog’s magnum opus- and let’s face it, there’s a few to choose from- this astonishing piece of film making is made even more bewildering by the true story on which it’s based. Herzog regular Klaus Kinski plays Brian Fitzgerald, an opera loving Irishman who lives in a Peruvian city, and dreams of one day building an opera house in the aforementioned city. The booming rubber industry in the region opens up an opportunity for Brian (aka Fitzcarraldo) to make some money by investigating a part of the jungle that bares rubber trees but is not currently owned by anyone. The area is rife with tribes, and numerous possibilities for peril, but Fitz pushes ahead by purchasing a steamboat with the help of his paramour, Molly, who runs a brothel. After he sets sail on a maiden voyage, the crew later abandon Fitz, and his remaining loyal subordinates require the help of local natives in somehow pulling the ship over a mountain at the shortest distance between two rivers. During filming, Herzog, somewhat unsurprisingly, insisted on his own crew hauling the ship over the steep hill used in the film, leading to three injuries. The Fitzcarraldo shoot is as famous as the end product, leading to not just those injuries but, as always, violent clashes between Herzog and Kinski, to the point where the chief of a genuine tribe of the region (used extensively as extras) asked Herzog if he wanted them to kill Kinski for him. This is laid out in the documentary Burden Of Dreams (1982) if that’s of interest, and well worth a watch considering the achievement that is Fitzcarraldo. It brings to mind more recent films like Embrace Of The Serpent (2015) as well as sharing similarities with Herzog’s own Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972) but in terms of sheer endeavor and film making, Fitzcarraldo, for me, is arguably Herzog’s peak. 8.8/10