Burden of Dreams
classified 15Cast members (Jason Robards Jr., Mick Jagger) drop like flies, a prop ship is trapped in the rapids, and legendary director Werner Herzog makes impossible demands in this riveting account of the crazed shooting of his most ambitious film Fitzcarraldo.
Burden of Dreams captures legendary director Werner Herzog’s filming of his most ambitious film, in which an entrepreneur (Klaus Kinski) endeavours to push a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle, one thousand miles away from civilisation.
Featuring visceral interviews with Herzog, Burden of Dreams (which was held by Roger Ebert as “one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made about the making of a movie”) depicts the full range of Herzog’s unflinching vision spanning four years of production, despite all odds, such as the lead actor (Jason Robards) who had to leave the set after 40% of the shoot was completed.
Most notoriously, the film features a jaw-dropping sequence featuring Herzog requiring hundreds of native Campa, Machiguenga, and Aguaruna people to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain.
The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded mission of one of cinema’s most fearless directors.
Bundle of Dreams: get 10% off when you buy tickets for both Fitzcarraldo and Burden of Dreams (the documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo). Discount automatically applied at checkout.