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Ideals are hard work. Fitzcarraldo explores the question of "just how far would you go to realise your dream?" with a passion rarely matched. It's not a quickly paced film.
But it is an absorbing, amazing, inspiring, touching film.
In the fourth collaboration between director/writer Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski, we see a team who have come full-circle. Fitzcarraldo bears many resemblances to Aguirre, Wrath of God, but is a more mature approach to the same notions. Themes and performances are more developed and more satisfying (and Aguirre... was pretty great on it's own!). In similar ways, the story of the making of this film is intertwined with the story in the film. Art doesn't just imitate life, here. It is life. In other words: I can't recommend strongly enough that if you watch the film, you then rewatch it with the commentary playing.
Fitzcarraldo is the story of an Irish dreamer who wants to bring opera to the banks of the Amazon. He is the embodiment of idealistic arrogance, but at the same time he is childlike and charming. The relationship between Fitzcaraldo and his lady friend/benefactress is one of the most positive I've seen in ages.
Technical values are solid, but take a back seat to the spectacle of what is physically accomplished in this film - to say more might spoil, so I'll leave it it that. The acting is pitch-perfect. I think I'm developing a crush on Kinski, but even so: he's perfect in this role, bringing just the intensity, the insanity, the passion and the focus that is needed to show us the soul of a dreamer.
4.5/5
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In the fourth collaboration between director/writer Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski, we see a team who have come full-circle. Fitzcarraldo bears many resemblances to Aguirre, Wrath of God, but is a more mature approach to the same notions. Themes and performances are more developed and more satisfying (and Aguirre... was pretty great on it's own!). In similar ways, the story of the making of this film is intertwined with the story in the film. Art doesn't just imitate life, here. It is life. In other words: I can't recommend strongly enough that if you watch the film, you then rewatch it with the commentary playing.
Fitzcarraldo is the story of an Irish dreamer who wants to bring opera to the banks of the Amazon. He is the embodiment of idealistic arrogance, but at the same time he is childlike and charming. The relationship between Fitzcaraldo and his lady friend/benefactress is one of the most positive I've seen in ages.
Technical values are solid, but take a back seat to the spectacle of what is physically accomplished in this film - to say more might spoil, so I'll leave it it that. The acting is pitch-perfect. I think I'm developing a crush on Kinski, but even so: he's perfect in this role, bringing just the intensity, the insanity, the passion and the focus that is needed to show us the soul of a dreamer.
4.5/5