Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Brent G — 12 Nov 2009

I'm on a damned Herzog kick, and now I see why he is so popular among film enthusiasts. I consider him a genius, the way he uses film to enter these worlds of the unique, the bizarre... Fitzcarraldo has Kinski dominating the lead, and as the film goes on, he sinks deeper and deeper into the jungle of Peru.

There's suspense the whole journey through, but it's not manufactured. Nothing in Herzog's movies seem manufactured. It's almost like he just rolls camera, which he has admittedly done before in certain scenes, especially, I hear, in Woyczek.

But this is just so memorable, with such a strange main character to follow, the perils of the river (the ship nearly succumbing to the rapids to opera music as the camera spins around the river is a really terrific shot), and the warm and silly ending.

I was pretty much hoping this would never end.