Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot.
1982's Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale was considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. Largely due to its plot of an opera-loving baron who seeks to exploit an unclaimed part of land while getting his steamboat dragged by Amazon natives on top of a mountain. Despite the film's international acclaim and success, the film was years in the making with cast changes and production problems that the story behind the making of the film was even more interesting. It was there that documentary film director Les Blank released a film about the making of Fitzcarraldo called Burden of Dreams. Starring Herzog, Kinski, Cardinale, along with Mick Jagger, and Jason Robards. Burden of Dreams is a superb, intriguing documentary about all the troubles that goes on behind the world of filmmaking.
It's late 1979 where after a year of pre-production, Werner Herzog and his film crew are down in the Amazon to look over locations for Herzog's new project entitled Fitzcarraldo about an opera-loving baron who wants to take his love of opera to the little, poor town of Iquitos, Peru by becoming a rubber baron to exploit an unclaimed part of land down in the Amazon. There, he faces great challenges of nature where at one point, he would have to drag his steamboat on top of a mountain. Upon taking on this project, Herzog and his team found the location they were looking for but were already caught in the middle of a border dispute between numerous Indian tribes and the government where immediately, it fell apart as Herzog chose to postpone everything for a year. Finally in early 1981, Herzog was able to find a location in Iquitos, Peru while getting his cast assembled that included Jason Robards in the title role and rock singer Mick Jagger playing his assistant Wilbur.
With 40% of the film shot, things seemed to be going well until Jason Robards found himself ill as he's forced to return to the U.S. When news that Robards won't be returning due to his illness, the production was halted for six weeks as Mick Jagger announced that he couldn't return due to touring commitments with the Rolling Stones. In April of that year, Herzog replaced Robards with actor Klaus Kinski, in whom has worked with him in three films by that time, while Jagger's part was immediately cut out. The scenes in Iquitos were re-shot as Herzog found an old steamboat that was used during a conflict with Columbia as Herzog rented it along with two other steamboats that he had to remade to make them identical. Filming continued with Kinski and Claudia Cardinale as Herzog found a new group of Indian tribes to work with while giving them double the wages they often worked with in their other line of work. Still, the shoot was going through some problems as the rain season ended as Herzog was forced to shoot during the somewhat dangerous currents of the Pachitea river while the other boat was in the Ucayala Falls.
The troubles don't stop when a few tribe members were hit with spears and arrows of sorts where a woman was hit in the ribs and a man was hit in the neck yet were both saved. Still, the obstacles become more challenging as the ship still has to contend with the currents of the Pachitea as well as some shallow grounds. When it reached the destined slope on where it would go on top of the mountain. More problems emerged as clearing the trees and land for the slope proved to be troubling as a rented, used bulldozer didn't help matters. Especially for the fact that it was the second attempt when another planned slope proved to be too wet and muddy as Herzog is running out of money and time. Originally supposed to be at work for three months, the natives are becoming restless over their own differences in tribes and such as a missionary priest tries to sort things out. Though Herzog and his production team have provided health care and food, other things were needed as well as a new soccer ball. In another camp where the main cast and crewed stayed, they're becoming bored as Kinski reacts very negatively to the time of waiting.
With the slope finally done, an engineer from Brazil was trying to figure out how to drag a ship on top of a mountain as a difference over the degree of angle and how to pull it became problematic as the engineer quit. When Herzog does the first attempt, the cable breaks as things become bad. Herzog then makes some statements about his love/hate relationship towards nature as he realizes that the jungle is winning. With filming still continuing despite more trouble including filming on the other ship for the rapids sequence where cinematographer Thomas Mauch reinjures his hand. Herzog wonders if he will ever make another film after he finishes with this one where from April to November of 1981, shooting on Fitzcarraldo is finally completed.
While many people will know that making a film isn't easy but what Les Blank and his co-director Maureen Gosling revealed is how far a director will go to achieve his dream and how far he's willing to take himself. Though Herzog isn't entirely portrayed as an egomaniac, he is willing to himself to reveal his personality, flaws and all. There's parts of him that is caring and sensitive and there's another side of him that can be insensitive and delusional at times. Still, Blank and Gosling reveal all the troubles in which Herzog had to go through. From the border disputes between tribes and the Peruvian government to the battle with nature on trying to get the steamboat on top of a mountain as well as trekking through the Amazon. It's more than the typical, behind-the-scenes kind of mini-film that would often be seen on TV specials or as extra features on a DVD. What Blank unveils is what could go wrong in a movie definitely goes wrong and how Herzog persevered through the challenges.
While the entire film isn't perfect since there's a few parts that drag, the documentary is sobering in how the tribes and local react to being apart of this project. The reaction was indeed mixed where though they like the money and being apart of something grand, they didn't expect it to be that hard or to come into a situation that is tense. With Blank serving as the cinematographer, he goes deep into the contrasting world of the camps that the tribes lived in and where the cast and crew lived since Herzog didn't want to impose the culture of his camp onto theirs. The interviews with Herzog, Kinski, Paul Hittscher, Thomas Mauch, Miguel Angel Fuentes, Jose Lewgoy, various crew members plus locals reveal the atmosphere and the culture of the Amazon. While Herzog doesn't want to maintain or exploit their culture, he does his best to get the tribe into getting their land where by the end of the film, the final credits revealed that the tribe is still struggling to get their land.
Then there's the narration written by Michael Goodwin as it reveals the troubles of the film and what was going on during the months of filming. It's a wonderful narration in its insightful, sobering effects of how weather, locations, and politics can cause problems during filming. Then there's the role of Maureen Gosling whose editing and sound work reveal the tense atmosphere of the areas while her editing, revealing several amounts of footage shows the complexity of the Amazon as well as everything that goes in the film. It's superbly edited while it reveals the two lost scenes with Jagger and Robards including a scene of the two actors calling out wanting an opera on top of a church. Those two scenes reveal what was left since the remaining footage was lost. Other footage in the documentary, particularly between Herzog and Kinski is revealed more in Herzog's 1999 documentary about his collaboration with Kinski called My Best Fiend.
Burden of Dreams was released months after the release of Fitzcarraldo where the documentary drew rave reviews as it helped spawn a new kind of documentary that was more than the typical making-of featurettes. The impact of Burden of Dreams would help spawn two other documentaries in similar situations. 1991's Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocaplyse about the troubled making of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 masterpiece Apocalypse Now and 2002's Lost in La Mancha about Terry Gilliam's failed attempt into his film adaptation of Don Quixote. In conclusion, Burden of Dreams is still a sobering, intriguing documentary about the filmmaking process in all of its glory. While it's not a perfect doc due to its pacing, it is noted that the doc should be seen after watching Fitzcarraldo. Fans of that film should indeed, check out Burden of Dreams.
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