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Werner Herzog,
Werner Herzog,
Klaus Kinski,
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Les Blank,
Les Blank
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: Criterion
: Documentary, Film, Quirky Characters, Criterion Collection
: 95 min.
: English, Spanish, German
: English
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Documentarian Les Blank, who filmed Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, trained his cameras on Herzog again, as the eccentric German filmmaker made his epic, Fitzcarraldo, in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Herzog's production is in trouble right from the start. He begins filming with Jason Robards playing the title role, and Mick Jagger playing Fitzcarraldo's sidekick, Wilbur. With 40 percent of the film shot, Robards becomes ill and goes back to the states, where his doctor will not let him return. Because of the delay, Jagger, with album and tour commitments, is forced to quit the production. Thinking no one can fill the rock star's shoes, Herzog jettisons Jagger's role. He eventually casts his frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski as Fitzcarraldo and begins shooting again. Violent tribal disputes and unpredictable weather hinder the shoot, but the biggest obstacle is Herzog's own quixotic and dangerous determination to film one antique boat smashing down the Amazonian rapids, and the dragging of an identical boat over a mountain from one river to another. Blank interviews members of the cast and crew, including the impoverished Indian extras, and captures the troubles of the seemingly cursed production, but his interviews with Herzog are the focal point of the film. "If I abandon this project," Herzog explains at one point, "I would be a man without dreams, and I never want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project." Herzog later made his own documentary about Kinski, My Best Fiend, which adds to the lore of this infamously difficult shoot. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
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| Subtly surprising
by chadstep
April 12, 2007 - 8:05 AM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| It bears watching to remind us what documentaries used to be like before their rise in popularity--grainy, linear, sequenced and not very visually stunning. It was like science films gone wild, though, as you watch a story with no ending or preconceived notion unfold. Thank goodness for Les Blank's ability to capture the monumental moments of stunning megalomania (?) which Herzog embodied, not to mention his unflappable approach to flights of fancy such as dragging the ship over the mountain (30% chance of success by one engineer's estimate, with many possible casualties), or working with native Amazonian tribes who are brought together to portray his "stylized" version of their ways (which almost resulted in a knife fight between two women fighting over a husband), as well as the culture clash between Europeans and natives which could have been worse. Surprisingly, no mention of his pointing a gun and directing Klaus Kisnski (actually, Kinski plays a lesser role in the documentary than in the latter film by Herzog, "My Best Fiend"). |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.95)
127 Votes
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