USA,
1982, 94 min
Shown in 1995
CREDITS
- dir
-
Les Blank
- prod
-
Les Blank
- cam
-
Les Blank
- editor
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Maureen Gosling
-
COMMENTS
Les Blank was the subject of a tribute in 1995; he appeared in person.
Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo was an eccentric project, to say the least—one that in retrospect appeared doomed from the start. In fact, Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams, a film about the making of Fitzcarraldo (which was actually Herzog’s idea), is in the long run, a much more enlightening piece about an obsessed man battling the forces of nature. Based on a true story, Fitzcarraldo stars Klaus Kinski as a Caruso fanatic determined to build an opera house in the Andean jungle; his money-making scheme involves hauling a steamship over a mountain. Unwilling to compromise his vision, Herzog insists, too, on actually hauling a ship over a mountain. From the film’s false start (original stars Jason Robards and Mick Jagger had to back out) through an unbelievable range of production traumas, Burden of Dreams watches the extravaganza unfold—warts and all—with an honest yet nonintrusive eye. Engineers quit in disgust, native tribes battle each other, workers are badly injured, and nerves are shattered all around. But when asked whether he would continue his project in light of its troubles, Herzog was adamant: “I live my life or I end my life with this project.”
—Kurt Wolff
FACTOID #56
A group of renegade filmmakers who dubbed themselves Grand Central Station staged a publicity stunt on the Opening Night of the 13 th San Francisco International Film Festival by bombarding the steps of the Masonic Auditorium with 300 cream pies. Lemon meringue, anyone?
