Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Elvira B — 16 Jan 2009

I was finally able to watch Fitzcarraldo! And it didn't disappoint me at all in spite of my very high expectations.

All in all this is one of those epic movies made by visionaries that come only once in a blue moon.

Brian Sweeny Fitzgerald is a railroad builder in Iquitos, a Peruvian town of multimillionaire rubber producers. His dream is to build a majestic Opera House there, and for Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt to sing on the opening night. Unfortunately, the railroad business is not too prosperous and since he cannot find any investors he must find an unoccupied portion of nearby jungle to start producing his own rubber and collect some funds for his dream.

The task is not as easy as it seems... there's a reason why those lands remain unexploited, but I won't give the whole thing away :) just keep in mind it all involves dragging a ship up a hill from one river to another.

Everything about Fitzcarraldo is grandieuse and mad. Werner Herzog actually built 3 real ships to shoot the movie, and actually dragged one of them over the hills. So who's madder, Fitzcarraldo or Herzog?

There's something empowering and exciting about this determined man playing Rigoletto into the Amazonian jungle, and conducting the work of more than a hundred Indians ever impeccable in his white suit and hat. Klaus Kinski is as usual incredible as Fitzcarraldo. He goes from being gentle and meditative into obsessive frenzies with a single change of his facial expression. Claudia Cardinale is also very good although she doesn't have a lot of screen time. I loved the rest of the supporting cast as much as ever in Herzog's movies... people who seemed like they could have actually been the crew of this insane voyage. Herzog also relied on real Indians, not people dressed up with feathers in their hair. It feels like a documentary when it doesn't display scenes of odd and pure cinematic beauty.

Fitzcarraldo is one of those movies that puts stuff like the remake of the Poseidon or Titanic to shame. It's audacious, bizarre, and skillfully made. It alternates between the hilarious and the pathetic with taste. Annd although I prefer "Aguirre" in the category of movies made by Werner Herzog in the Amazon Rain Forest (Kinski's performance is just plain frightening - and I like to be frightened in a healthy way), it shouldn't be missed. A breath of fresh air -courage, authenticity, and bullshit-free eccentricity.