Fitzcarraldo poster & wallpaper

Klaus Kinski, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes

The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of the Peruvian jungle.

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93% liked it

8,615 ratings

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85% liked it

20 critics

PG, 2 hrs. 37 min.

Directed by: Werner Herzog

Release Date: March 4, 1982

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DVD Release Date: November 16, 1999

Stats: 749 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (749)

  • flixsterman
    November 14, 2009
    flixsterman
    I'm in awe of the amount of time and effort that it must have taken to make this film possible. It is man against nature on the grandest of scales. A contrast of lace and mud. Fitzcarraldo is a study of the line between modern society and the last outposts of frontier. ...( read more) The story of a man who dreams of bringing opera to the jungles of South America. I'm not sure if I understand director Werner Herzog's motivation but I certainly admire his stamina.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    An amazing achievement and an amazing story, and that's just what happened behind the camera. This is not my favourite Herzog film, in fact, I'm more interested in the making of the film than the film itself, but that said, it?s still one of the greatest films ever made!
  • her69eyes
    March 6, 2009
    her69eyes
    Of all the great spectacles in cinema history, "Fitzcarraldo" may be the most overlooked. Much of the impressive visuals from "Apocalypse Now" are here - the rivers, the jungles, hundreds of natives - the only difference is, of course, the explosions replaced by a mammoth boat dr...( read more)agged up a mountain. Although "Fitzcarraldo" is inferior to a work like that, it still handily stands on it's own as a great visionary spectacle that's absolutely unforgettable.

    Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski), later dubbed Fitzcarraldo, is an Irish dreamer with a love of opera. The film opens with Fitzcarraldo and his lover, Molly (Claudio Cardinale), working their way to Manaus after a 1,2000 mile trip down the Amazon. Their destination? To hear the great opera singer Caruso (Costante Moret), the very man who fuels Fitzcarraldo's own extraordinary vision. He wishes to build an opera house in the jungles of Iquitos and bring in Caruso to perform.

    After a series of failed investments, Fitzcarraldo makes an effort to get on the rubber bandwagon. He purchases a spread of 400 square miles in land for a very cheap price - cheap because, well, it's inaccessible. There are heavy rapids on the river leading to the land, certainly too dangerous for a boat. However, the madman Fitzcarraldo sees another route - by traveling down a parallel river, he can pass the rapids, take his intact boat across a mountain, and finish his expedition on the other side. Shockingly, he succeeds with help of hundreds of natives apparently compelled by his determination. The question, of course, is how the hell did he plan do to this without that kind of man power? A small crew certainly isn't going to haul a large boat over a mountain. As an audience, we don't think that Fitzcarraldo had ever thought that far ahead.

    The beauty of the sights in "Fitzcarraldo" will burn in your retina. From the wild Klaus Kinski, wearing a white suit and a large hat, overseeing his boat pulled up a mountain, to the trip down the Amazon that mirrors "Aguirre: The Wrath of God", the film is largely unmatched in it's incredible visuals. Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" opens this weekend, a spectacle promoted on the strength of it's visual effects. I doubt that anything in that film will leave a mark like "Fitzcarraldo".

    "Fitzcarraldo" isn't a perfect film, especially due to it's lackluster conclusion (it's hard to have a satisfying climax after you've hauled a boat over a mountain), but it's certainly worth seeing. NetFlix members can watch it on Instant View.
  • ebs90
    January 16, 2009
    ebs90
    I was finally able to watch Fitzcarraldo! And it didn't disappoint me at all in spite of my very high expectations.
    All in all this is one of those epic movies made by visionaries that come only once in a blue moon.
    Brian Sweeny Fitzgerald is a railroad builder in Iquitos, a ...( read more)Peruvian town of multimillionaire rubber producers. His dream is to build a majestic Opera House there, and for Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt to sing on the opening night. Unfortunately, the railroad business is not too prosperous and since he cannot find any investors he must find an unoccupied portion of nearby jungle to start producing his own rubber and collect some funds for his dream.

    The task is not as easy as it seems... there's a reason why those lands remain unexploited, but i won't give the whole thing away :) just keep in mind it all involves dragging a ship up a hill from one river to another.

    Everything about Fitzcarraldo is grandieuse and mad. Werner Herzog actually built 3 real ships to shoot the movie, and actually dragged one of them over the hills. So who's madder, Fitzcarraldo or Herzog?
    There's something empowering and exciting about this determined man playing Rigoletto into the Amazonian jungle, and conducting the work of more than a hundred Indians ever impeccable in his white suit and hat. Klaus Kinski is as usual incredible as Fitzcarraldo. He goes from being gentle and meditative into obsessive frenzies with a single change of his facial expression. Claudia Cardinale is also very good although she doesn't have a lot of screen time. I loved the rest of the supporting cast as much as ever in Herzog's movies... people who seemed like they could have actually been the crew of this insane voyage. Herzog also relied on real Indians, not people dressed up with feathers in their hair. It feels like a documentary when it doesn't display scenes of odd and pure cinematic beauty.

    Fitzcarraldo is one of those movies that puts stuff like the remake of the Poseidon or Titanic to shame. It's audacious, bizarre, and skillfully made. It alternates between the hilarious and the pathetic with taste. Annd although I prefer "Aguirre" in the category of movies made by Werner Herzog in the Amazon Rain Forest (Kinski's performance is just plain frightening - and I like to be frightened in a healthy way), it shouldn't be missed. A breath of fresh air -courage, authenticity, and bullshit-free eccentricity.
  • harrycaul
    October 30, 2008
    harrycaul
    Klaus Kinski, Werner Herzog, a boat, the Amazon and a tale of epic folly. Hmmm...sounds familiar! To a certain extent Herzog is revisiting a past glory here, but comparing and contrasting Fitzcarraldo with Aguirre: Wrath of God is one of the great pleasures of watch...( read more)ing the movie. Fitzcarraldo, the character, more closely resembles Aguirre's Brother Gaspar de Carvajal than the megalomaniacal conquistador himself; yes, he is desperate for wealth, but only as a means to a philanthropic end: to bring opera to the masses. He's a dreamer who has discovered something wonderful and just has an overwhelming desire to share it; Fitzcarraldo is really a missionary, the secular equivalent of de Carvajal, only more zealous and totally incorruptible.

    Obviously the highlight of the film is the passage of Fitzcarraldo's steamboat, Molly-Aida, over the mountain, during which Herzog fascinatingly blurs the line between documentary and narrative filmmaking, to the extent where, as one who hasn't seen it, I begin to wonder whether he hasn't effectively rendered Les Blank's companion documentary, loftily entitled Burden of Dreams, at least partly redundant.

    Did Herzog have Once Upon a Time in the West in mind when casting Fitzcarraldo? There are certainly echoes of Jill McBain in Molly, the character Claudia Cardinale plays in the film: the prostitute lover of a visionary Irish dreamer. Interesting, too, that Jason Robards, Cardinale's OUATITW co-star, was originally cast as the lead here. Coincidence?
  • JasonDennis91786
    November 10, 2009
    JasonDennis91786
    a true testament to creative passion
  • mrchewbacca
    November 4, 2009
    mrchewbacca
    de como el primer mundo puede devasta al resto. Aplausos por el nazi este!
  • ahhh1989
    November 1, 2009
    ahhh1989
    I can't even understand how this film was even possible to be made. The whole idea just seems so ambitious in such an extreme way. Sometimes there are just some films that are impossible to wrap your head around and this is one. Regardless of all that, however, this film was just...( read more) a masterpiece and I will never see anything like it!
  • jmankas
    September 8, 2009
    jmankas
    superb acting by Kinski, and an amazing work by Herzog.
  • Lemure
    July 17, 2009
    Lemure
    Herzog loves tales of obsession and here he has it in abundance. Fitzcarraldo is determined to build an opera house in the middle of the jungle even if it means dragging a steamboat over a mountain. And they did. They cleared jungle, hired hundreds of locals and dragged the boat ...( read more)over the mountain. No modelwork, no CGI. That alone is stunning, but chuck in Herzog's flawless eye for capturing nature and a good plot also. It isn't quite as good as Grizzly Man but this is Herzog's magnum opus.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

As a document of a quest and a dream, and as the record of man's audacity and foolish, visionary heroism, there has never been another movie like it. full review

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Fitzcarraldo Trivia

  • Which director links the movies "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", "Heart of Glass", "Grizzly Man", "Fitzcarraldo", "Signs of Life" (1968) and will release "Rescue Dawn" -with Christian Bale- later in 2007?  Answer »
  • Werner Herzog was the subject of a documentary called "Burden of Dreams" for his directing of what film? Clue: it was originally going to star Mick Jagger and Jack Nicholson.  Answer »
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