Les Blank's document on the haggard and plagued production of Werner Herzog's masterpiece, Fitzcarraldo, burdened by disputes between tribes in South America, unfriendly weather conditions, engineering issues involving the ships used by crew and locals helping them during the troubled shoot, and the existential anxieties plaguing the brilliant visionary director. Seeing Herzog monologue about how concerned he is of what his people's influence on the tribes helping him and the crew could be and the painstaking work stoppage and downtime is absolutely fascinating...it is as if this thoughtful intellectual tap pours out, and the director just bares his soul. Just the experiences of those involved in the film as they happen, with glimpses into the beleaguered psyche of Herzog and the agonies of the environment when those making the film are held prisoner by a production halted periodically offers a compelling gaze into how vision and artistry articulated can come with a price, daunting and exhausting in equal measure. Particularly compelling is how Blank captures the tribal life and how Herzog intermingles with them, appreciative of their labor and aware of how his way of life could potentially poison theirs, in a moral dilemma about how to not leave a residue of influence, so that they continue to function as their own society. But the shoot, with all its difficulties, shows us that conveying realism using locations instead of studios can be detrimental and hazardous. It does seem that what could go wrong does.
Review of Burden of Dreams
