Ep. 320: Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo / Burden of Dreams

Claire and Gavia dig into the chaotic production process and artistic accomplishments of Werner Herzog's acclaimed 1982 historical drama Fitzcarraldo, accompanied by its fascinating making-of documentary Burden of Dreams.

Set in turn-of-the-century Peru, Fitzcarraldo explores an ill-advised river voyage by an Irish businessman (Klaus Kinski), who seeks to build an opera house in the Amazon basin. Behind the scenes, life imitated art as Herzog's film shoot dragged on for years, endangering the lives of cast and crew, and raising questions about the ethics of asking others to suffer for your art.

Among other topics, this episode explores Fitzcarraldo’s colonial themes, Herzog’s unique notoriety as a filmmaker, and how Herzog’s real-life determination wound up reflecting the destructive journey of his film’s fictional protagonist.

(Content warning for listeners new to this film: At least one person died while working on Fitzcarraldo. As we discuss in the intro to this ep, on-set accidents remain an ongoing labour rights issue in the film industry, where crewmembers and stunt performers regularly incur serious injuries and even die on major Hollywood projects, but rarely receive recognition for the dangers they face.)

Previous episodes: The Terror