Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Jack L — 07 Jul 2010

I am yet again left speechless and amazed after watching another of Herzog and Kinski's masterpieces, Fitzcarraldo. After being mesmerised by Aguirre, the Wrath of God, I decided to watch more of their work but didn't expect them to rise to such heights again, I was very wrong, while Fitzcarraldo isn't a better film than Aguirre, it's still a masterpiece. It differs from Aguirre in quite a few ways, this film is far more plot-driven than Aguirre and relies much more on character development than on atmosphere.

SPOILERS AHEAD.... Fitzcarraldo's real name is Brian Fitzgerald but none of the indians can pronounce that so he changed it, he lives in Equito a small Peruvian town far away from the larger cities. He has recently been bankrupted when his venture to build a Trans-Andean railway collapsed. He now relies on his partner Molly for money.

He is an avid Opera fan and his greatest wish is to see an Opera house built in Equito seeing as the closest one is about 2000 miles away! None of the extremely wealthy capitalists want to invest in an Opera house preferring to make or lose money for themselves without giving anything back to the people. But Fitzcarraldo is not like them, he wishes to bring his passion for Opera to Equito not only for himself but for anyone who might be interested.

To do this he needs money and the surest way to make money in those parts is the Rubber business. But all the land around has been bought already, except for one large chunk which lies beyond some deadly rapids and is therefore inaccessible. Fitzcarraldo buys it, with Molly's money of course and then proceeds to purchase and repair a Steamship which he names Molly Aida.

Fitzcarraldo sets of to bring back proof that his newly purchased land is accessible, but instead of heading down the Pongo river (a tributary of the Amazon) where his land is he heads for the Pachitea river which runs parallel to the Pongo but goes deep into Native Indian territory.

Accompanying him are the Captain of the ship Paul, the engineer Cholo, the cook Huerequeque and the crew. As they head into the jungle filled with hostile Indians his crew desert and he is left only with three men :the Captain, The cook and the engineer.

He then arrives at a point in the river where it swerves in very close to the Pongo, he reaveals his plan: to tow the Steamship up the hill and drop it into the Pongo on the other side, with the help of some Indians who have strange purposes of their own and his small group of men Fitzcarraldo sets about this seemingly impossible task.

The direction of this film was superb, though very different from Aguirre it is just as memorable. It was put to better use at telling the story than in Aguirre so it sacrifices some of its dreamlike quality. I got the impression that Herzog was more used to Kinski's acting so was able to capture it more efficiently on film. Herzog's direction is perfectly paced and lays out all aspects of the plot clearly, he couldn't have done a better job. Some shots were just amazing especially those of the Steamship being raised on to the land accompanied by the Opera named Caruso which Fitzcarraldo plays all the time.

The acting was good from the whole cast although nothing exceptional, overall the performances were good from pretty much everyone including Claudia Cardinale who plays Molly, but Klaus Kinski overshadows all of them with one of the best and most underrated performances ever. He really becomes his character and his extreme emotions are visible on his face throughout the whole film.

The soundtrack was not as stunning as in Aguirre, but was still good. It of course contains many Opera's and often the same one (Caruso) but I didn't get bored of hearing them. The rest of the music is mainly native indian music or surreal music similar to that of Aguirre.

The dialogue was in English, which I hadn't expected seeing as most of the cast were german or Spanish speakers. Kinski's accent does slip at times but is overall easily bearable to hear. The dialogue is much less vague and bizarre than in Aguirre, it helps the plot move along much more.

The characters were far more important than in Aguirre, the film revolves around Fitzcarraldo a man who has discovered something immensely beautiful (Opera) and wishes to share it with his fellow men, he is not a Capitalist like his acquaintances , he doesn't enjoy making money, he just needs money to accomplish his dream. He is also an ingenious and very intelligent man and the plan he contrives really astounded me. All the other characters were secondary to Fitzcarraldo but they were interesting in their own right, Cholo the engineer is helping him just for the fun and the challenge of it. The natives are helping for some unknown reason, i've never seen such inscrutable characters in a film before, this effect isn't helped by the fact that Herzog chose not to translate what they say so they are basically incomprehensible just like their motives.

The plot was very interesting and really quite crazy, it is based on a real character who did actually pull a ship over a mountain but his ship wayed ten times less than the one used in this film. That is what is so crazy about this film, Herzog and his cast actually pulled a 300 ton ship over a steep hill even though the engineers claimed such a feat was impossible. Fitzcarraldo's obsession with Opera really drives the plot forward and makes the character accomplish incredible things, it isn't showed in a bad way though like obsession often are but actually seemed to set Fitzcarraldo above his peers. The ending is one of the most tragic yet fitting endings I have ever seen, it really impressed me Herzog has directed a masterpiece. I won't reveal anymore though as it has to be seen not read.

Overall this is an amazing and epic film that is sadly overlooked and underrated. Herzog received the award for best Director at Cannes and he deserved much more.

Very Highly recommended to everyone. Fans of Herzog will love it as will people who are new to his film. But if you are to much of a fan of mediocre films out of Hollywood then I can't guarantee you will like it as it makes you think unlike many other films.

Cinematography 10/10.

Acting 9/10.

Soundtrack 9/10.

Screenplay 10/10.

Plot 10/10.