FITZCARRALDO

by Werner Herzog
158’, Germania, 1982

The Amazon Rainforest at the dawn of the twentieth century. Brian Sweeny Fitzgerald, an Irish baron who the natives call Fitzcarraldo, has a great dream: to build the biggest opera house that has ever existed. To inaugurate it, he wants the great tenor, Caruso. To finance this venture, he plans to use the rubber trade. But the area where the most trees are found, around the Ucayali River, is divided amongst the largest producers. However, there is an area near the upper course of the river that is rich with trees and has no owner. Fitzgerald plans to reach it by passing through the river that flows nearby and dragging a ship over the hillock that separates it from the Ucayali. Soon, discontent erupts among the sailors. The river is inhabited by ferocious Indios, the Hivaros. The crew abandons the ship. The Indios arrive and, mistaking him for a god, help Fitzcarraldo to transport the ship over the mountain. The daring venture fails. On his return to Iquitos, Fitzcarraldo resells the ship, and with the proceeds hires the orchestra that he had heard in Manaus for a concert and, even though he hasn’t built a theatre, succeeds in bring opera music to the inhabitants of his city.

 

Werner Herzog Born in Munich in 1942, Herzog made his first short film in 1962. He is one of the protagonists of the so-called “New German Cinema”. He collaborated for many years with Klaus Kinski, with whom he made some of his most acclaimed works, including Fitzcarraldo. Author and director of more than fifty films and documentaries, he is widely recog- nized as one of the most important living directors. In 2010 he present- ed his first 3D documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. He currently lives and works in the US.