Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Fitzcarraldo (PG)

"Up shit creek with a hell of a paddle"

Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski (Aguirre, The Wrath of God) team again to tell the tale of an eccentric entrepreneur living in the Peruvian jungle who is obsessed with becoming a Rubber-Baron to fund the creation of an Opera house for his own amusement.  What follows is a long, drawn out cruise upriver to untapped rubber tree locations, portage his enormous steam ship over a mountain, harvest and reap the rewards?  What can (and does) go wrong fills the run time, and as we get to know Firzcarraldo better we see this is just his newest attempt at riches and failure.

Somehow treading the same ground as the mad tale of Aguirre and yet comes up emotionally detached and hollow, the film still must be applauded for its audacity at recreating period struggles of man vs nature.  Herzog actually does drag the boat up and down a mud infested hill using local inhabitants, and is one of those few occasions where film maker and subject align perfectly:  Fitzcaralldo's mania is also Wener's, but the main character himself is not as electrifying as other performances by Klaus and the whole affair can be best described as a tiring slog.

4.5 White Men with Plans out of 10 (BAD)