FITZCARRALDO
by Kevin Koehler
Werner Herzog sure has a soft spot for obsessive idealists engaged
in hopelessly enormous tasks (Aguirre: Wrath of God, Invincible,
Heart of Glass, and so on...). One need not be a head-shrinker
to see why the director identifies with the protagonist of Fitzcarraldo,
a man who endows himself with the Herculean undertaking of dragging
a steamboat up and over mountain to deliver opera to the savages.
The picture stars Herzog Best Friend Forever (and presumed crazy
person) Klaus Kinski as the titular Irish émigré. An
aspiring rubber baron and music enthusiast, Fitzcarraldo plots a
way to combine his two interests into one profitable endeavor. The
scheme: access an untapped forest of rubber trees, farm them, and
build an opera house with the profit. Seems reasonable enough except
for those perilous rapids that have prevented previous missions from
getting there.
His solution is inspired: take the steamboat not over water, but
over land. Enlisting the help of the Natives, Fitzcarraldo tasks
himself with the impossible. On more than one occasion, we have to
ask ourselves - why does the Indian tribe, who know nothing of the
white man's goal, assist him in his strange quest? We are never given
a direct answer, only left to assume that it is for the same reason
so many great things are done - simply to see if we can.
Herzog's film has a wonderful visual poetry to it, something so
few directors even attempt any more (let alone accomplish). Despite
duplicating many of the same themes (and setting, star, etc...) of
his earlier Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo is probably the
better of the two despite being a tad on the lengthy side. One can't
come away unimpressed by the fact that CGI and model-work are notably
absent from this picture - that is a steamboat, that is a South American
mountain, and they are actually dragging the former up the latter.
A nice corollary to Fitzcarraldo is the documentary Burden
of Dreams, which chronicles the problematic production of the film
and Herzog's own genius/madness.
Interesting footnote: Forty percent of the film was originally shot
with Jason Robards in the lead with Mick Jagger playing the part
of Fitzcarraldo's mentally-challenged sidekick. Robards took ill
and was advised by doctors not to return to work. The ensuing production
delays caused Jagger to drop out as well due to scheduling conflicts
with the recording (and subsequent touring) of the Stones' album Tattoo
You. Herzog was forced to reshoot everything (with old standby
Klaus Kinski as Fitzcarraldo) and cut Jagger's (presumable substantial)
character entirely from the picture.
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