Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by James-Masaki R — 10 May 2010

Herzog's creation of the movie was ambitious, dangerous, violent, and completely insane, recreating the true story of a man who tried to build an opera house in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Klaus Kinski plays rich man Fitzcarraldo, and his dream is to bring a ship into the middle of the Amazon, and have an opera house on board. Getting the boat through the waters, getting the natives' trust, and avoiding the dangerous natives, and also gettting the 300 ton ship over a mountainside are just some of the troubles he must go through.

Insanely, Herzog filmed this with no miniatures or studio sets, and they did, as the true story was 100 years ago, pull the giant boat over the mountain. Also, there were death threats, a lot of injuries, and actors Jason Robards and Mick Jagger cancelling at the last minute. But wow, insanity has its merits I guess.