Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jose Lewgoy

Director: Werner Herzog

Summary: A man is obsessed with the dream of building an opera house in the Peruvian jungle. To fund the project he has the idea of hauling a steamship over a mountain and into a river tributary where he can achieve a monopoly in the rubber trading business.

Director Werner Herzog returns to the exotic locales and obsessive themes of previous works in his Amazon masterpiece, FITZCARRALDO. Klaus Kinski gives a terrifying and determined portrayal of mad genius Fitzcarraldo, whose twin goals of making a fortune off the Amazon rubber trade and bringing an opera house to the jungle give the film its crushing centerpiece--the maniacal leader's Sisyphean efforts at hauling a gigantic steamship over a mountain bank. The single-minded and wickedly energetic Fitzcarraldo moves mountains (and a boat) with his will and along the way acts out a stunning and emotional battle between man and nature, as in the similarly themed Herzog/Kinski collaboration AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD.
Herzog's razor-sharp attention to the minutiae of both Fitzcarraldo's madness and the jungle's corresponding apathy and enormity makes the film a breathtaking metaphor for civilization's impact on the natural world. The documentary style of the film (the cast and crew actually hauled the boat over the mountain) gives the tale an urgency and suspense that, combined with Kinski's bravado performance and Herzog's striking sense of landscape, make FITZCARRALDO an unforgettable experience.

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Werner Herzog's lengthy 1982 fever dream is typical of the director's passion for boundless experience: the story concerns the title character's determination to open a shipping route over the Amazon as well as build an opera house (worthy of Caruso) at a river trading post. Klaus Kinski (star of Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God) plays the visionary/madman with a spooky dignity, and Herzog--as always--thrills to the mystic possibilities of filming where no one else would even think of placing a camera. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	German
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary, Theatrical Trailers, Still Gallery, Talent Biographies
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1982
Release Date:	September 2, 2002
Runtime:	157 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	A B W H D 01
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Fitzcarraldo, Drama
Genre:	Drama