Burden of dreams

From D.W. Griffith's Intolerance to Erich von Stroheim's Greed, film history is littered with grandiose, ruinous, sometimes unrealized film projects. In 1979, German director Werner Herzog went to the Amazon jungle to film Fitzcarraldo, a tale of an adventurer obsessed with building an opera house in the middle of the rain forest. Independent filmmaker Blank was granted extensive access to the film's cast and crew, and in a shooting schedule that eventually stretched to several years, he captures Herzog's battles with the elements, hostile terrain, suspicious natives, delays and snafus, and illness that required the replacement of lead actor Jason Robards and supporting actor Mick Jagger. The documentary's centerpiece details Herzog's elaborate effort to film a steamship as it's pulled through the jungle. The movie subtly links Fitzcarraldo's obsession with Herzog's mania to get it all on film. The viewer is left to sort out whether the film had a negative impact on an exotic culture or was ultimately worth the effort, but this documentary should inspire interest in rediscovering Fitzcarraldo. The disc includes a scene-by-scene commentary by Blank and Herzog, a new high-definition transfer, and deleted scenes. While not as compelling as similar "making of" projects (e.g., Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, focusing on Apocalypse Now), this documentary is recommended for academic collections.-Stephen Rees, Levittown Lib., PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.