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Fitzcarraldo
1982, Werner Herzog
normally, i always watch movies in their original language, but i had a hard time with this one for some reason and ended up watching the dubbed version instead, which wasn't perfect, but not as bad as some i've seen. pretty much the moment this movie was recommended to me i knew i was going to like it, and i was right.
the most striking thing i found about this movie was that it was striking on more than one level. what i mean is, Fitzcarraldo is about one man's dream, obsession, ambition, and failures, and these truths are seen twice: first through the story, and then through the sheer audacity of the film's creation.
one thing i couldn't help but notice about Fitzcarraldo is that it's unbelievably slow. nearly three hours, with the bulk of the storyline really coming together within the last 45 minutes or so. it's almost like Herzog was not concerned with pandering to the attention span of his audience at all, which only strengthened my opinion about Herzog/Kinski collaboration. Klaus Kinski, who plays Fitzcarraldo, is at the top of his game in this role, but the really unique thing about this movie is how you can feel that Herzog literally is Fitzcarraldo, as it is painfully obvious that Herzog was more concerned with putting his vision on screen, much like Fitzcarraldo himself.
i noticed there were a mixture of ratings on imdb as well as Netflix from users who gave the film as high as to as low as , and i think this mainly is because Werner Herzog made the decision not to cater to American audiences. in turn, this isn't the kind of film you would want to watch if you need something happening all the time (i know my parents would hate this movie for that). however, if you are interested in seeing a movie about one man's visionary dream come alive through the eyes of a brilliant director, then this is your movie.
thanks, Fiscal
1982, Werner Herzog
normally, i always watch movies in their original language, but i had a hard time with this one for some reason and ended up watching the dubbed version instead, which wasn't perfect, but not as bad as some i've seen. pretty much the moment this movie was recommended to me i knew i was going to like it, and i was right.
the most striking thing i found about this movie was that it was striking on more than one level. what i mean is, Fitzcarraldo is about one man's dream, obsession, ambition, and failures, and these truths are seen twice: first through the story, and then through the sheer audacity of the film's creation.
one thing i couldn't help but notice about Fitzcarraldo is that it's unbelievably slow. nearly three hours, with the bulk of the storyline really coming together within the last 45 minutes or so. it's almost like Herzog was not concerned with pandering to the attention span of his audience at all, which only strengthened my opinion about Herzog/Kinski collaboration. Klaus Kinski, who plays Fitzcarraldo, is at the top of his game in this role, but the really unique thing about this movie is how you can feel that Herzog literally is Fitzcarraldo, as it is painfully obvious that Herzog was more concerned with putting his vision on screen, much like Fitzcarraldo himself.
i noticed there were a mixture of ratings on imdb as well as Netflix from users who gave the film as high as to as low as , and i think this mainly is because Werner Herzog made the decision not to cater to American audiences. in turn, this isn't the kind of film you would want to watch if you need something happening all the time (i know my parents would hate this movie for that). however, if you are interested in seeing a movie about one man's visionary dream come alive through the eyes of a brilliant director, then this is your movie.
thanks, Fiscal