Customer Reviews

Burden of Dreams (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Or maybe it will sink its teeth into you. The most compelling dreams are not neat and tidy and are not easy to understand, not even by the person who has and fulfills the dream. That's the case with Werner Herzog's dream of filming the story of Fitzcarraldo. If you liked that movie, this documentary is a must-see, a fascinating look at all the problems Herzog had during the making of the movie. The film is not just about the obvious difficulty of moving the steamship over a mountain in the middle of a jungle. First, there are problems with local Indians that cannot be resolved and so the first location must be abandoned. At the new location, with 40% of filming complete, the star of the movie Jason Robarbs becomes sick and goes home to recover. His doctor forbids him to return. Then Mick Jagger drops out because he can't stay the extra months needed to reshoot the film. (I was disappointed that there was only a minute or two of footage showing Robarbs and Jagger).

Back in Germany, Herzog's investors ask him, Do you have the strength or the will or the enthusiasm to continue? He replies, "How can you ask this question? If I abandon this project, I would be a man without dreams. And I don't want to live like that." Filming continues and there is one more delay and problem after another. Herzog has three ships so he can shoot at different locations and two of them run aground, due to low river levels and the driest season in years. The film does a good job of showing both Herzog's reactions to these problems and his determination to continue in spite of huge financial and personal costs.

Most of my criticisms have to do with the limitation of films generally, namely that I wanted to know alot more about this story. I wanted to understand more of Herzog's complex relationship to the jungle, I wanted to understand why he continued to try moving the ship after his engineer walked away and predicted that people might be killed. I wanted to see more of Herzog in action and have a more intimate glimpse of his creative process. But for a ninety minute documentary, I basically can't complain, it did the job of telling the story of the making of Fitzcarraldo.

Fans of Apocalypse Now or Hearts of Darkness should check this out. It is a documentary detailing the madness Werner Herzog went through in making his film Fitzcarraldo in the jungle. This movie is great because it shows how Herzog's struggles in making his movie parallel those endured by the main character in Fitzcarraldo. Both figures attempt to drag a huge riverboat literally over a mountain in the middle of the Amazon. If you enjoy behind the scenes documentaries or believe in man's obsessive nature, you should see this.

First, Anchor Bay gave rain to our parched Herzog-loving throats with the release of many of the eccentric German maestro's greatest feature films. And now, Criterion offers Les Blank's astonishingly beautiful and gloriously weird documentary on the desperate creation of one of those classic titles, Fitzcarraldo. A production that started off starring Jason Robards and Mick Jagger wound up with the director threatening to murder star Klaus Kinski if he walked off set! See Herzog obsessively orchestrating the movement of an entire steamboat over a treacherous mountain in Peru! No special effects for this master.

"Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project." If every filmmaker thought this way, do you think we'd have to sit thru Son of the Mask?

As a five-star added bonus, we get "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," a brilliant short doc by Blank which chronicles Herzog actually cooking and devouring his boot after promising Errol Morris to do so if Gates of Heaven was ever completed! Herzog also uses the opportunity to declare war on American television!

God bless Criterion - here's hoping they follow up this exciting release with some unavailable Herzog docs like La Souffiere, Dark Glow of the Mountain, or Wings of Hope, and some other Les Blank rarities like Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers and In Heaven There is No Beer...

Prior to viewing "Burden of Dreams" I had this preconceived notion that this film was akin to "Hearts of Darkness", the documentary about the making of "Apocalypse Now" where the megalomaniacal director slowly goes mad after countless delays and on-set disasters. To the contrary, director Werner Herzog comes off as a rational artist who, despite the setbacks he encountered during the making of "Fitzcarraldo", soldiers on to see his vision come to fruition. Documentarian Les Blank gives a full-bodied account of the elements that Herzog had to contend with from the volatile nature of the film's setting in the Amazon to dealing with the indiginous tribes who were crucial to the film. Blank meticulously documents the production from it's shaky beginnings to it's end. You get the feeling that Herzog had probably entered this project with great enthusiasm but was relieved some five years later to be done with it. I haven't seen "Fitzcarraldo" in a number of years and it had slight resonance to me. You be the judge as to whether all the energy and resources expended in this endeavor was worth it. Not to be missed, Criterion includes a short subject from Blank, "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" which demonstrates Herzog's integrity in keeping a bet with budding filmmaker Errol Morris. There is also a recent interview included with Herzog where he gives his account of events during the making of "Fitzcarraldo" but is at pains not to denigrate Blank's document.

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Burden of Dreams is a documentary about the troubled production of Werner Herzog's film, "Fitzcarraldo."

The movie was produced in the Peruvian jungle and there were various problems during production. Location scouting got a native american tribe upset and they forcible evicted the film crew, the lead actor got sig in the middle of principal photography and had to be replaced, and a number of other problems. It also shows the troublesome effort of the film crew to pull a 320 ton steamboat up a 40º angle hill for one of the film's scenes.

The documentary also contains interviews with the cast and crew of "Fitzcarraldo" and a loot at the cultural life of the native americans hired as extras. After seeing this making of documentary, I have a desire to see Fitzcarraldo. as it looks like a very nice work.

The Criterion DVD includes some nice special features also.

"Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" is self explanatory film. The story behind it involves a friend of Herzog that wanted to be a filmmaker. Herzoc sarcastically told him, "If you ever make a movie, I will eat my shoe." his friend took him up on the bet.

"Dreams and Burdens" is a new interview with Werner Herzog

Two deleted scenes, a photo gallery, a theatrical trailer and Audio commentary by director Les Blank, editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and Werner Herzog.

There is also, in addition to the liner notes, excerpts from the diaries of Les Blank and Maureen Gosling written during production.

This DVD is one of the better ones that I have seen and I recommend it highly

One of Les Blank's best documentaries, requiring almost as much from him as from Herzog and old Fitzgerald. A fascinating reflection on art, artifice and reality. The most mesmerizing scene to me is a monologue Herzog stages about the obscenity of the jungle.

Not 5 stars because Blank and his crew had a moment of sanity and left before Werner called in the bulldozer to finally haul the boat over the hill. we're left without the dramatic sense of completion we'd been aiming for. We get it only by proxy and narration, without the satisfaction we want. This is anti-climactic, and maybe thematically correct, but you still sort of wish Les had hung in there the whole way.

In a lot of ways, Fitzcaraldo was the end of Herzog's maddening career, and also the end of a certain kind of expansive cinema. Brat Pack movies were soon to follow.

Following the astonishing trail of disasters Werner Herzog faced making 'Fitzcarraldo' on location in Peru - including tribal wars, a seriously ill Jason Robards' departure after 40% of the film had been shot, one ship running aground due to low rainfalls and another obstinately refusing to move up the mountain - Les Blank's famous and once groundbreaking documentary has dated badly.

It's an excellent portrait of Herzog's obsession and the growing madness surrounding the shoot, but it's more a catalogue of catastrophes rather than a candid view of the shoot: although unused footage was shot of Kinski's tantrums, the star and director's relationship is all but ignored and you tend to get the feel of a superior travelog giving the official version (a lot of the other real crises happen offscreen). There's plenty of absurdity on view, such as prostitutes being brought to the native workers camp on the advice of the local Catholic missionary, but 'Hearts of Darkness' it ain't. But you can't help but admire the way that, unlike Fitzcarraldo, who falls prey to the dreams of the natives he thinks are working for him, Herzog manages to cling on to his dreams and ultimately triumph, incorporating each new on-set disaster into his film.

No complaints about Criterion's DVD treatment - the extended theatrical version of the documentary in a beautiful print with commentary, a new 39-minute interview with Herzog, a couple of deleted scenes that were used in Herzog's own doc 'My Best Fiend,' trailer, copious stills gallery and a book with substantial extracts from production journals. An excellent companion piece to 'Fitzcarraldo,' but it probably has less appeal to those not so interested in the film.

Les Blank's documentary is much more than just a making of Werner Herzog's FITZCARRALDO, which is what makes it important and interesting. Like Herzog's own documentaries which blur the boundaries between fact and fiction Burden of Dreams often slips into the realm of a feverish fantasy world. A world in which sanity is far less important than fulfilling dreams and which death and danger are accepted bedfellows. Often FITZCARRALDO becomes immaterial as Blank eye for local detail picks out strange images or centres on exotic looking birds or insects. It exists in a continuum of its own, precariously balanced within the bizarre politics that surrounded FITZCARRALDO'S production and also outside of this melting pot. In many ways it has outlived the film it is chronicling and instead of gratuitous shots of Klaus Kinksi raving we have shots of local customs and portentous doom laden interviews with Herzog. The film is secondary to Herzog, who comes across as driven and perhaps a little insane, affected by paranoia, he sees the jungle and creation itself as an enemy, something to be feared and loathed. He has become the apotheosis of his own movie world and myth making process, the marginalized loner, the outsider.

Unfortunately amid the excitement, we really only get Herzog's side of events and the documentary seems unduly biased in this direction. Nobody else is interviewed, which makes the film seem a little unbalanced. Despite this bias in Herzog's direction he still emerged from FITZCARRALDO and BURDEN OF DREAMS with his reputation in tatters. This is an outstanding piece of work, which shows the film-making process at its most extreme edges.

Criterion's DVD is one of their best. A superb 40 minute interview with Werner Herzog is the sets highlight, but also of note is Blank's brief documentary WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE, to have this included is a precious bonus

By any standards, "Burden of Dreams" is unforgettable. It's a documentary about director Werner Herzog's attempts to make his film "Fitzcarraldo." A difficult project, Herzog, filming in Peruvian jungles, actually had his native workers pull a steamship over a mountain (with a 70% chance of catastrophe), among other insanities. Also on display are scenes of Jason Robarbs and Mick Jagger in "Fitzcarraldo" before they had to quite (fascinating, and an indication of how different the movie might have been if Klaus Kinski hadn't starred). As mad as he is, Herzog somehow comes across as someone to root for, and "Burden of Dreams" actually winds up being a more interesting portrait of crazed determination than "Fitzcarraldo."
The DVD from the Criterion Collection lives up to their mighty standards. The 1.33:1 image looks surprisingly good for a documentary, with only a bit of grain and very few scratches. Of the many extras, the best is the short film "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," a bizarre 20-minutes of clearly displeased Herzog doing just that (to fulfill a bet). It's quite funny, in an odd way, and it's use of the song "Ol' Whisky Shoes" is memorable. Also included is a commentary by director Les Blank, editor Maureen Gosling, and Herzog; a new interview with Herzog (he doesn't seem to have changed much); photo galleries; deleted scenes, which include Klaus Kinski going on a profane temper tantrum (perversely fascinating); and a trailer. Interestingly, a booklet of Gosling and Blank's diaries from the "Fitzcarraldo" set come with the package. It's almost enough to forgive the ludicrously high Criterion price tag.

Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo depicts a man's grueling journey towards self-fulfillment and personal dreams. Burden of Dreams tells the story from behind the camera, as Herzog finds himself in an almost five-year long struggle to accomplish a dream that nearly broke him physically, psychologically, socially, and economically in the Peruvian jungle. Despite the many obstacles, Herzog eventually managed to create a brilliant cinematic experience, which now can impress present and future film aficionados. Yet, before viewing this documentary, the audience should consider two notions that support the idea of viewing Fitzcarraldo first. First, the final product raises the awareness of why Herzog pursues making the film, which also helps learning from the filmmaking journey. Second, this documentary would spoil Fitzcarraldo, as it depicts and explains several scenes from the film. It ultimately would reduce the element of surprise and drama.

An interesting retrospective notion that comes to mind after the film is the comparable similarities that Herzog has with Fitzcarraldo who is the character that Klaus Kinski portrays in the film. They both have the desire to fulfill a dream to the level of obsession where both seem willing to risk it all in their endeavor. Herzog even mentions in the documentary, "I live my life, or I end my life with this project." This also suggests why Herzog believes that the film had to be done, as it provides a strong reflection of Herzog's own persona and his existential philosophy.

Often the journey of reaching a dream drifts into oblivion when the aftermath surfaces. On the other hand, Burden of Dreams makes sure that the audience does remember the importance of the struggle for dreams through Herzog's numerous predicaments. For example, his initial problems include border wars, death threats, and the departure of leading role actors, which consequently makes investors nervous. After having been set back for over a year Herzog commences the shooting of Fitzcarraldo, as difficulty continues to haunt the filming with drought, tribal war, and a plane crash. He even believes that a curse rests over the film production. All of these delays begin to have their toll on him and the rest of the filmmaking crew, as he begins to drift into an angry gloominess blaming the ever so close jungle.

All of the negative impacts that the film crew and cast experience are intensified by the Amazon jungle that surrounds them for thousands of miles. Originally, Herzog believed that isolation from civilization would bring out qualities in both the cast and crew that would heighten the cinematic experience. This concept had more validity than Herzog would ever have anticipated, as boredom begins to affect both the crew from the modern world and the natives who live by ancient traditions. Steadily morale keeps on sinking. Fortunately, a cure to the low morale rests within down-to-earth solutions. Yet, through the problems and the solutions Herzog begins to see the dark nature of the unforgiving jungle that seems to come closer and closer.

The director Les Blank objectively captures the clash between ancient and modern traditions, as the natives and the film crew interact in the tropical rainforest. The audience gets to observe the making of the traditional masato, an alcoholic beverage made of yuca chewed and fermented with human saliva. There is a also a scene in Fitzcarradlo where Kinski is supposed to drink masato to seal an agreement between him and the natives, but in fear of infection, Kinski avoids it by drinking canned milk. Despite the troubles, the camera effortlessly flows with the fatigued crew of Europeans, Americans, and natives, as they all have to endure the burden of Herzog's dream - Fitzcarraldo.

Previous documentaries such as American Movie (1999) and Lost in La Mancha (2002) offer similar experiences, but they do not achieve the anxiety that Burden of Dreams reaches. The forcefulness of the story rests within the topic, which in this case is Herzog and his desire to fulfill his dream. In many aspects, this documentary seems outlandish such as Herzog's idea of pulling a steamboat over a mountain and the abundance of problems that surrounded the making of Fitzcarraldo. Yet, it is within this madness, if you will, where Blank captures the power of dreams in a similar way that the bird Phoenix raises from the ashes.