Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Mike M — 13 Jul 2008

One of the few epics with both a grand design and a real appreciation of the nuts and bolts; an idea of moving a ship over land, and some idea of how one might go about it... At every stage, it remains an extraordinary (ad)venture - like "Apocalypse Now" remade by optimists - with a real and powerful sense of wonder: Herzog makes his interiors, such as the (mimed) opera business at the beginning, every bit as enchanted (and enchanting) as the voyage into the jungle, and gives the key line to Fitzcarraldo's lover, a brothel keeper played by Claudia Cardinale: "It's only ever the dreamers who move mountains".