Cinema
Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog · 1982
Synopsis
At the beginning of the twentieth century, in Iquitos, a city in the Peruvian Amazon enriched by rubber, the Irishman Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, known as Fitzcarraldo, dreams of building an opera house there where Caruso would sing. Lacking money, he takes a rubber-tree concession on the Ucayali, made inaccessible by rapids, and buys an old steamer with the money of his companion Molly. He plans to go up a neighbouring river, the Pachitea, to the point where a single hill separates it from the Ucayali, and to haul the boat over it.
Context
The character is inspired by Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald, a Peruvian rubber baron who in the 1890s had a steamer taken from one river to another, but dismantled into pieces. Jason Robards, first hired, fell ill after shooting about forty per cent of the film; Kinski replaced him and the role planned for Mick Jagger was cut. The preparation caused a conflict with the Aguaruna, which was echoed internationally. In Peru, the crew actually hauled a steamer of more than three hundred tonnes up a hill; only the rapids scenes made use of a model. Les Blank followed the shoot in a documentary.
Who it is for
An adventure film of about two and a half hours, shot on location in the Amazon forest.
Prizes and reception
Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982, where the film was competing for the Palme d'Or.