The making of Fitzcarraldo is the stuff that legends are made from. The creation of the film itself was an act of madness and an artpiece on its own. Werner Herzog insisting on realism, demanded that the scene where they pull a 320 ton up a very steep hill, a feat never done before in history and unlikely to be ever repeated again. Perhaps even comparable to the construction of Stonehenge. They were attacked by native Indians. Klaus Kinski threw such tantrums that, the chief of the tribe that were playing the extras even offered to kill him for Herzog. Herzog even had to force him to act under gunpoint. Several actors backed out after shooting had already been done halfway. Having lost all of his money, Herzog traded shampoo at the local market for rice and lived only on that for 3 weeks. It is no wonder that Herzog called it his best documentary.
The story is about the typical Herzog outsider who has an impossible dream, to build an opera house in the middle of the jungle. He needs to raise the money necessary for this and has tried a couple of harebrained schemes for far in order to do but no luck so far. He comes to the idea of earning his fortune with rubber. In order to do so he has to not only travel through a region infested with hostile natives but he has to perform the near impossible feet of dragging his steamboat uphill through the jungle. Somewhat based on the true story, the original had a boat that weight 30 tons and was dismantled and transported like that also no opera was involved I think. As usual his quests fails but at the end there is redemption of sorts and it is gorgeous and like Herzog said, without dreams we would be just like cows grazing in the fields.
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