Fitzcarraldo | | Cast : | Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale | | Director : | Werner Herzog | | Studio : | Anchor Bay Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 10, 1982 | | DVD Released Date : | November 02, 1999 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), German (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 17, 2005 | | Summary | One of the greatest stories ever told | Content
 | Herzog has taken on many grand ventures but none so dramatic as this one. The great German director was drawn to the history and myths of the Americas, using opera as the basis for this grand film. Herzog tells the tale of Fitzcarraldo, a real life character, who had the audacity to pull a steamship over a small mountain to prove he could ford two rivers. Kinski is wonderful as the "big dreamer" who is obsessed with bringing Carusso to the Peruvian hinterland at the turn of the century. Fitz puts together a crew that has all the trappings of the ill-fated Pequod, but somehow manages to pull this great adventure off. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 01, 2005 | | Summary | Herzog & Kinski in Wonderfully Mad Accomplishment... | Content
| The thin line drawn between obsession and faith converges under the notion in something for what there is not clear evidence. Often obsession relates to the external perception of an individual with a persistent motivation to accomplish something that is considered irrational while faith pertains to to be complete trust in something vague that never has been proven. Usually both obsession and faith go hand in hand, as these two characteristics complement each other. Geniuses and pioneers in their own field frequently display both obsession and faith in their ability and in what they try to accomplish, which has often helped mankind to take great leaps forward in evolution. Nonetheless, people displaying the combination of faith and obsession regularly obtain the characteristic of being mad.
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski), who also is known as Fitzcarraldo, exhibits relentless obsession in regards to opera music, as he tries to convey his faith in building an opera house in a remote part of the Amazon jungle. Most people thinks he is mad, except for Molly (Claudia Cardinale) who might be biased due to her love for him. A previous endeavor has brought Fitzcarraldo into ruin as he tried to build a Trans-Andean Railway, but little support made the gigantic project fall through and it left him stranded in the jungle. Currently, Fitzcarraldo tries make a fortune in creating ice in the jungle, but business is slow. Thus, he tries to design new ideas that could help him get back on his feet while aiding him in his quest to build an opera house.
Through exploring options in business with the help of a rubber baron Fitzcarraldo gets a new vision of how to accomplish his great dream. He quickly acts on his idea, as other prosperous business men begin to bet on how long it would take before Fitzcarraldo would go bankrupt. The Amazon jungle constantly rests in the background reminding the audience about Darwin and his rule of survival of the fittest. Similar notions can be drawn to the business world, as people making bad business deals often ruin themselves. Even though Fitzcarraldo knows about this, he has strong faith in what he is doing, as he continues his obsessive pursuit.
Fitzcarraldo buys a steamboat with the help of Molly, which is in dire need of repair. Before they can take off he hires a captain, Orinoco Paul (Paul Hittscher), whom he lets know that he needs a brave crew, but never reveals the true intentions of his business. The journey does not go downstream as most anticipated; instead Fitzcarraldo, symbolically, takes the Molly Aida, named after his beloved, upstream. They make a brief stop where he once began his railroad project to pick up some railroad track for Fitzcarraldo's secret project. However, if the audience paid attention, they can deduce what he is up to, as they begin to venture up the Pachitea, a river known to inhabit headhunters.
Fitzcarraldo offers a journey into a hellish situation where the protagonist faithful believes that he will accomplish an impossible feat in order to pursue a dream, an absurd dream. Nonetheless, Fitzcarraldo presses the ship forward with death lurking around every corner, as the crew becomes more and more uneasy about the situation. Eventually, the situation becomes very dangerous, but Fitzcarraldo uses his faith and obsession to reach out to accomplish what he came do at the disheartening location.
Werner Herzog's project to make Fitzcarraldo is the second time he visited the Peruvian jungles, as he also did in Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972). This time Herzog displays a similar hardheadedness that Klaus Kinski's character displays in the film, as he had to endure several difficulties such as beginning from scratch after having already shot 40 percent of the film, a plane crash, and border wars. Nonetheless, Herzog came through with a brilliant cinematic experience that dissects the madness behind the hope and dreams. Klaus Kinski's performance is simply brilliant, as he will make the audience feel as if it was a documentary. In the end, this is one of the films that people should not miss, as it offers much to ponder and reflect upon. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 10, 2005 | | Summary | Great Filmmaking | Content
| This is a quest plot line; the golden chalice is to be found in the interior of the Amazon, a performance by Caruso and his opera company in the early 1900's. Klaus Kinski, of the disheveled blond hair, plays the obsessive opera lover. The town's folks believe him to be loco and well they should since his Trans-Andes railroad bankrupted the dreamer. His ice making operation makes no sense. His dream of Peruvian opera is a laughingstock, but he has an ace up his sleeve, his devoted lover, Claudia Cardinale, the local madam of distinction forks over the front money so Klaus can buy a boat to get to the rubber trees in a remote steamy jungle inhabited by headhunters. Oh, there's another problem. Rapids block access to the rubber trees, so Klaus must take another river parallel to the rapids, and then at a narrow point of land, must drag a steamship over a mountain. Unbelievable, the film crew took three years in the jungle to duplicate the feat, an engineering marvel, or a stunning duplication. My hat is off to Werner Herzog. This is what great adventure and acting is all about.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 31, 2004 | | Summary | The supreme madness! | Content
| In the middle of the Amazonas Klaus Kinski pretends to build an Opera House bringing to Enrico Caruso .
Provocative , intriguing , surrealist , irreverent and haunting film . Think just in this innovative idea . The magic realism will load the screen with arresting and awful images when you really discover the B plan of this special man .
Cannes 1982 as Best director and one of the supreme jewels of this clever german director .
Even I consider Aguirre the wrath of God his immortal masterpiece , I recognize this is a masterful work .
Watch it ; you will be astonished for a long long time . |
| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2004 | | Summary | Caruso on the Amazon! | Content
| It seems almost ridiculous to add yet another praise-filled review to the heaps already expressed here, but such a consummate piece of art like, 'Fitzcarraldo,' deserves the most it can get. Since others have brilliantly summarized the plot, I'll concentrate instead on why one should 'treasure' the three perfect hours of this film. Rare is the film nowadays that says so much with so little. Dialogue is used very sparingly throughout Fitzcarraldo, but that's all the better, for Kinski's Fitzcarraldo doesn't need words to express his dream. Every close-up of that intense face tells more than two hours of annoying chatter ever could. With his sharp features, searing gaze and untamed mane, Kinski is indeed Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald. A man possessed by his dream, by his mission to bring one of the most delectable of human creations, opera, to the 'wilds.' I agree most wholeheartedly with that reviewer who mentionned the role of Kinski's hair. It indeed has a life of its own and it mesmerizes the viewer. Like the antennae of Fitz's spirit, it stiffens in determination to see his passion come to bear, and then flys off his head, when the dream is realized. Every single second of this masterpiece is artfully necessary. Every stony gaze from the Indians, every sweeping shot of the misty jungle fits perfectly into place, creating a mosaic of colossal proportions. The scenes of the boat being painfully nudged over the hill mirror the struggle of creation itself. Or my favorite: when the Indians board the boat and meet Fitz for the first time. Herzog closes-up on how the chief gently touches, then rubs Fitz's palm. Two minutes that cast us into eternity. What could it mean? A symbol of our underlying brotherhood, a first 'clash' between 'the civilized' and 'the wild?' I don't even pretend to know, nor do I particularly care, for the soothing, almost sensual warmth of the scene brings that inner peace that all great art should. Ponderous? Deliberate? Yes and rightly so. Good things, great things, whether they be an exquisite meal, passionate lovemaking or the creation of a masterpiece, take their own time, irregardless of the frantic chaos that surrounds them. Fitzcarraldo is one such 'time-less' experience. Dive in and revel in its every breathtaking second! Not only does this film enrichen our senses, it strengthens our hearts. Fitz instructs us on we should pursue our dreams. With relentless faith. Believe and yes, we can move mountains! And move our weighty burdens over them as well. Yes, they are painstaking and for every inch gained, we lose two more. Yes, there are casualties. For ourselves and for others. And yes, nobody believes you can really pull it off, but in the end, you shall have your vindication as did Fitz. Caruso on the Amazon? Watch and believe! |
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