Review of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Travis T — 04 Apr 2009

If you are looking for a three-hour film about a bizarre-looking, opera-obsessed, white-clad man enlisting South American natives to move an enormous steamboat over a mountain (motivating them in this backbreaking labor using only a Caruso record and a block of ice) so that he can build an opera house which will host a performance starring Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt (who coincedentally doesn't sing)... well, then look no further. Or perhaps you are searching for a German film shot in Latin America with actors speaking English, starring a German man playing an Irish character who is in Peru for some unexplained reason- this film would satisfy those requirements as well.

Or, if that's not quite what you're after, how about a production that actually destroys part of the Latin American jungle and actually hauls a steamboat to the other side without the use of special effects? This stunning and somewhat sickening feat made Fitzcarraldo worth watching, although as a whole I can't say it was particularly enthralling.