Fitzcarraldo (1982)

 Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo"

It's very difficult to separate Werner Herzog's 1982 film "Fizcarraldo" from its behind-the-scenes troubles. In fact, these troubles are detailed in the making-of documentary "Burden of Dreams," released in the same year. However, I believe that this is perhaps the only film in which knowing the behind-the-scenes troubles improves the thematic point within the film itself. 

The film centers on an Irish immigrant living in Peru in the late 19th century who dreams of building his own opera house in the country. Due to the rapid rubber boom, he has an opportunity to seize rubber trees in the Peruvian Amazon that is untouched by industrialists. After buying a boat, he hatches a plan to sail the Pachitea River and carry his boat over a ridge into the Ucayali River, where the untouched trees are. Along the way, he encounters local natives willing to assist the European. 

Now. On to the 'behind-the-scenes' aspects of the film. In order to film the carrying of a 320-ton steamship up the side of a muddy, 40 degree hillside, Herzog hired the local indigenous population to work as both laborers and extras in the film. There were numerous accusations hurled at Herzog about his exploitation of the locals. This was due to separate incidents of injury, two of which involved individual plane crashes and one incident of a local being bitten by a venomous snake, which required amputation with a chainsaw.

These accusations of exploitation and mistreatment were so troublesome to Herzog that he contacted Amnesty International to come verify the conditions the indigenous people were working in. The Amnesty reported no evidence was found of exploitation or bad conditions. Even so, the shoot remained troublesome and frustrating. 

Perhaps the biggest reason for the on-set troubles was caused by the replacing of its main star. Originally, Jason Robards had filmed 40 percent of the film in the leading role of Fizcarraldo. After getting dysentery, he had to leave the project. Desperate, Herzog hired his old friend Klaus Kinski, whom he had many on-set conflicts with in previous productions. 

Kinski was totally erratic. He fought virulently with Herzog and other members of the crew. He did this even for more trivial matters like catering. His belligerence and contentious behavior upset the indigenous extras, despite Kinski feeling close to them. According to Herzog, one of the native chiefs offered, in all seriousness, to kill Kinski for him, to which Herzog declined. 

Despite first bringing to mind these incidents from the film, I would argue that they are completely parallel to the themes of the film itself. I often find that Herzog will attempt to garnish every conceivable ability to make the film real as possible, even if it means putting his actors through the contextual events of its story. Perhaps you could say this is Herzogian. 

However, the story itself deals in exploitation. The rich European exploits indigenous people, brings them into his capitalistic endeavor, for the sake of exploiting the natural resources for himself. He does all this to achieve an artistic pursuit of greatness (not necessarily for power or money). This parallels Herzog's efforts. 

Although Herzog is not fully identifiable with Fitzcarraldo, he mirrors his protagonist's dreams of conquer. Perhaps it is not fully the same contextual conquering that Herzog has in mind, but he attempted to do something in the realm of filmmaking that had never done before. Much like Fitzcarraldo's efforts to do something that has never been done before, Herzog dreamed equally as big. 

However, despite these parallels, the thematic foundation of the film seems like a natural bookend to Herzog's fiction filmography, and totally mirrors his other bookend, 1972's "Aguirre, Wrath of God." Both films share in the same foundation elements as one another. Both deal in Europeans coming to Peru to 'conquer' it per se, exploit its lands and resources, and become a transcendent being conquering their own lofty dreams. 

"Fizcarraldo" can be a bit draining towards the end of the film, however, In some ways, the herculean feat becomes the sole concern. This makes the task of watching the efforts rather benign, as it distracts from the more abstract concepts the film has to offer. Because the film becomes more about the tactful, logistical execution of its idea, it becomes far less interesting as a thematic piece.

That being said, I still view the film as a triumph. It's an unethical, and perhaps unwarranted film. However, Herzog was perhaps the only filmmaker to attempt such a feat. Released in 1982, it was the perfect film to come at the forefront of the Regan presidency, as it illustrates the lack of regard for the Fitzcarraldos of the world and their selfish pursuits to exploit the planet for their own baffling conceits. 

Perhaps Fizcarraldo is regarded as a 'hero' at the end of the film, simply for dreaming big and trying to achieve the impossible. I don't think the film's ending heeds any sort of antithesis to the notion that our protagonist is somewhat villainous. Instead, it opts for a dynamic viewpoint of the inevitable: that we, as humans, are naturally prone to taking advantage of our surroundings for our own aspirational pursuits. That is simply the law of nature. To Herzog, nature is God, even if God steps on the ants he presides over.