Fitzcarraldo: A Movie Review

Fitzcarraldo, Directed by Werner Herzog (German with English Subtitles), 1982

Fitzcarraldo is a comic opera set in the upper reaches of the Amazon in Peru during the early years of the 20th Century. Fitzcarraldo (Klaus Kinski) is a crazy Irishman whose idea of a trans-Andes railroad had failed. His prized possession is a phonograph and his collection of opera recordings. He is consumed with a desire to build an opera house in Iquitios. He enlists the help of his girlfriend (or wife?) the beautiful Molly (Claudia Cardinale), who runs the local brothel. Needing money to build, they decide to go into the rubber business. With her money, they buy a steamship with the idea of that Fitzcarraldo will claim a remote territory for its rubber. The idea is to take the ship upstream on one river, pull it across a small height of land into another river where they can go upstream and establish rubber plantations. Since that area they hope to claim wasn’t on a river navigable to the Amazon, they would bring the rubber to the isthmus, cross over the path which they’d hauled the ship to the other river, and then have another ship bring the rubber back to Inquitios.

The plan develops many problems. First, most of the crew deserts. Fitzcarraldo is left with just his mechanic, captain and cook. Then there are hostile tribes, who show up right after the crew has left. In a scene that recalls Col. Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now” (1979), where the leader of the Air Calvary plays Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as his helicopters fly into battle, Fitzcarraldo mounts his phonograph on the top of the ship and plays opera for them. Fitzcarraldo’s Caruso is much tamer than Kilgore’s Wagner. In time, he befriends a tribe of natives who help them move the 300 ton ship overland, from one river to another. Unbeknownst to Fritz and his crew, the natives help because they want to sacrifice the great white ship to the rapid gods and after a night when Fitzcarraldo and crew drank heavily while celebrating their feat, the natives cut the moorings and the ship floats down into the rapids. Listing badly, the ship makes it through the rapids and limps back into Iquitios where the original owner decides to buy it back and repair it. Fitzcarraldo gets two weeks use of the ship and uses that time to bring an opera company to Iquitios. Their performance is done on the top deck of the ship with Fitzcarraldo sitting off to the side in a red velvet chair, smoking a super-sized cigar. Although ruined, he enjoys his moment in the spotlight.

Although I wouldn’t say this was a great movie (there is something about listening to the German language in a Spanish land), I still enjoyed it. The filming is superior to the other Herzog movie I’ve reviewed, Aquirre: the Wrath of God and I’ve always been fascinated with the Amazon jungle (see my review of Teddy Roosevelt’s expedition to the region, the River of Doubt). Kinski plays the lead in both movies. In both, he’s less than a likeable guy (or maybe I just don’t like his Einstein-inspired hairstyles). But as much as I found myself disliking his character, I found myself wanting him to achieve his dream for which he has such passion. His character is like many of us today, throwing ourselves into work so we can pursue our passions when we’re on off-duty, on vacation or after we retire…

Now let's see if my embedded trailer from YouTube works: