Free YouTube Movie Reviews: Fitzcarraldo (1982)

You may know Werner Herzog from his famous and tragic documentary film Grizzly Man (2005), at least that's the first film that comes to mind when I think of him. But he also directed something like 20 feature films, among them is Fitzcarraldo (1982), free on YouTube right now.

Starring Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale, this adventure drama is set in the Peruvian rainforest around the turn of the last century, and tells the (true) story of the Irish business man Brian Fitzgerald, who attempts to make money in the then-burgeoning rubber trade so that he can build an opera house in the remote Peruvian village where he lives. Rarely does the plot outline of a film cause me to thoughtfully raise an eyebrow, but this one did. 

What's great about this film is the seemingly ramshackle, low-budget filming and the setting. Apparently, most of the stunts in the film (eventually Fitzgerald and his team of mostly indigenous workers attempt to pull a 300 ton ship up and over an isthmus between two rivers so they can get to the supply of rubber trees in a remote area of the jungle) were real. As in, while making the movie, they actually tried to pull the ship over the mountain and then sail it down some treacherous rapids. And you can tell because, other than one brief segment which is clearly done using a model, it all looks astoundingly realistic...and it is. You actually feel like you're there with them, sweating in the mud and creaking along down the river in an impossibly cumbersome vessel not built for what they are trying to do with it. 

In the balance, it just happens to be a sort of (dare I say it) heartwarming tale of ambition, dreams, and even friendship. Fitzgerald -- called "Fitzcarraldo" by Spanish speakers who cannot pronounce his name correctly -- is obsessed with the opera, a simple enough preoccupation. And, although his girlfriend (Cardinale) and his business associates do not particularly share his enthusiasm, he is able to win them over with his charisma and determination. 

It would have been easy to turn this film into a dark tale of treachery with a grizzly, violent ending -- much of the action takes place as the crew of the boat are surrounded and outnumbered by the indigenous people, with whom they seem to have struck a tenuous truce -- but (spoiler alert) the film doesn't end that way. 

Ultimately, Fitzcarraldo is a visual spectacle and (I think) a tremendous filmmaking achievement that is suitable for all ages and -- despite the black cloud of danger and violence that hangs over the film -- turns out to be uplifting. 

Incidentally the story about how the film was made is a whole other fascinating subject in and of itself. Apparently the likes of Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, and Jason Robards were at one point supposed to star in the film and -- because of his temperament and frequent clashes with Herzog -- Klaus Kinski was at one point in danger of being killed by the indigenous extras in the film.