Dr. Szlyk's Blog for ENGL 190: Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo

For a while, I've thought about showing Fitzcarraldo when I assign Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart. Looks like this is the summer!

Like Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, Fitzcarraldo is set during the age of imperialism--although it takes place in the early 20th century, rather than in the 19th century. Unlike the two novels, Fitzcarraldo is...yes...a film, and it's a German film (although it was originally filmed in English). The film's director is Werner Herzog, who now lives in Los Angeles but was originally based in Germany and is considered part of the New German Cinema.

For more information about Herzog and his films, see these links. With the second link, be sure to scroll down to see all of his films in alphabetical order:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001348/bio
http://www.wernerherzog.com/films.html

Fitzcarraldo came out in 1982, almost thirty years ago. Therefore, it reflects a very different kind of film aesthetic from what you may be used to. Herzog did not rely on CGI. He filmed this movie in Peru, the boat (or boats...he used three different ones) were real, and the actors pulling the boat up the mountain and down again were real. His shots are longer, and the camera tends to focus on scenes, giving actors time to react to what is going on. Herzog was very proud that his film was *not* a Hollywood production...that he and his small crew sweated everything out, keeping the film going over a number of years and even cast changes. When discussing his relationship with Klaus Kinski, the actor who plays Fitzcarraldo, Herzog relishes its turbulence and Kinski's frequent loss of control. After all, he refers to this actor as his "Best Fiend." (Below is a scene from the documentary, My Best Fiend.)

Back to the movie itself....it is set in the Amazon jungle--in Peru.

The filming was done in and around Iquitos, the largest city in the Amazon rainforest. The city's current population is 370,962. Below are pictures of the city. The first is from Wikipedia, and the second is from Explorations, Inc.. You might not be surprised to learn that Iquitos was a boom town during the early 1900s and that even now it is inaccessible except by airplane or boat.

Much of Fitzcarraldo is fiction or exaggeration although there was a Carlos Fitzcarrald as Dan James Pantone, Ph.D. points out in his article:
http://www.iquitosnews.com/page14a.html

Here are a few more scenes from Herzog's film. First is a picture of Fitzcarraldo with his grammaphone in the jungle.

The next scene shows the boat in the jungle. Once the boat had been pulled down the mountain, Herzog et al had quite a wild ride through the rapids.

Below is a scene from the making of the film. The man in the picture is director Herzog.

This scene takes place much earlier, before Fitzcarraldo goes out to find the boat and bring it down the mountain. In this scene, he is still in Iquitos, and he is shouting out "I want my opera!!!"

Ironically, it is difficult to find pictures of the indigenous people in Fitzcarraldo although they are a strong presence in the movie itself. Below is the best scene I can find: