Reviews (34)

One of the Greatest Films Ever...I Was Stunned
It shocks me that I had never even HEARD of "Fitzcarraldo" a week ago (nor did I know who Werner Herzog was), and now that I've seen it I consider it to be one of the 10 best films I've ever seen in my life, right up there with "Vertigo," "Once Upon A Time In The West," and "Rashomon."

The pacing of this film is slow, languid, and dreamlike, and allows the viewer to really immerse him/herself in the brooding jungle atmosphere. I never realized how contrived most American movies felt, until I experienced the stark reality of Werner Herzog's documentary-like style. "Fitzcarraldo" blurs the line between reality and drama, utilizing actual natives in conjunction with his character-actors (including the brilliant and intense Klaus Kinski), who subject themselves to real hardships in order to lend the film legitimacy. The result feels like a cross between a surreal daydream and something out of National Geographic.

The transfer to DVD is virtually perfect. I was awestruck at the quality of the video and audio on this disc. The picture is gorgeous, in sweeping, flawless widescreen, and the sound is bright and alive. There are few extras on this disc, but the film itself was so satisfying that I didn't care.

I highly recommend the boxed set entitled "The Herzog/Kinski Collection," as it contains excellent DVD versions of all 5 of their collaborations, as well as Herzog's tribute to Kinski entitled "My Best Fiend," a fascinating portrait of their bizarre, yet intensely creative, working relationship. It will add to your appreciation of "Fitzcarraldo" and all of their films.

" Life without music would be a mistake"---Nietsche.
Documentaries have been made about the love/hate relationship between the greatest German director and the greatest German actor of the twentieth century. Kinski claimed that he kicked Herzog during the making of this film and that "Herzog groveled." For his part Herzog claimed that when Kinski threatened to walk off the set, Herzog took a high powered rifle and swore to Kinski that he would shoot him as his motorboat passed around the bend.( They were filming in the The Amazon ) Kinski stayed.

Only these two superbly talented megalomaniacs could have pulled off this tour de force of directing and acting.

Fitzcarraldo is, quite simply , one of the greatest films of all time. No other actor could have played the lead as well as Klaus Kinski, and no other director could have conceived eschewing props and actually hauling a 300 ton steamship over a mountain, or, for that matter, hiring warring tribes of headhunters as extras.

It works.

The story is set in the late 19th century when rubber (and robber!) barons created great wealth in the remote jungles of South America, built on the monopoly of the rubber plant. We moderns know that this artificially created civilisation will soon collapse, when the plant is smuggled out; so what better setting than these ephemeral cities of gold and palaces of opulence to tell this tale of man's capacity to dream?

Here is a world where elegance mingles with crudity. In one scene, a millionare, proud of his collection of rare carps, tosses them them large bills, while he jokes in front of an impoverished Fitzcarraldo about how fond the fish are of the taste of money.

Fitzcarraldo has a passion for opera. If the viewer does not share this, the film can still makes sense, provided the viewer has a passion for SOMETHING. If not, forget it. It'll be incomprehensible to anyone without blood in his veins. Just the story of a nut.

Not that Fitzcarraldo is not er . . .speculative in his business schemes. When he announces to his lover, a successful brothel keeper, (Claudia Cardinale) " I have an idea! " She responds with: " Oh, no! Not another one! "

But she bankrolls him, nevertheless. Now all he has to do is--well, as Einstein once eloquently said, to achieve the impossible, we must attempt the absurd.

Caruso on the Amazon!
It seems almost ridiculous to add yet another praise-filled review to the heaps already expressed here, but such a consummate piece of art like, 'Fitzcarraldo,' deserves the most it can get. Since others have brilliantly summarized the plot, I'll concentrate instead on why one should 'treasure' the three perfect hours of this film.

Rare is the film nowadays that says so much with so little. Dialogue is used very sparingly throughout Fitzcarraldo, but that's all the better, for Kinski's Fitzcarraldo doesn't need words to express his dream. Every close-up of that intense face tells more than two hours of annoying chatter ever could. With his sharp features, searing gaze and untamed mane, Kinski is indeed Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald. A man possessed by his dream, by his mission to bring one of the most delectable of human creations, opera, to the 'wilds.' I agree most wholeheartedly with that reviewer who mentionned the role of Kinski's hair. It indeed has a life of its own and it mesmerizes the viewer. Like the antennae of Fitz's spirit, it stiffens in determination to see his passion come to bear, and then flys off his head, when the dream is realized. Every single second of this masterpiece is artfully necessary. Every stony gaze from the Indians, every sweeping shot of the misty jungle fits perfectly into place, creating a mosaic of colossal proportions. The scenes of the boat being painfully nudged over the hill mirror the struggle of creation itself. Or my favorite: when the Indians board the boat and meet Fitz for the first time. Herzog closes-up on how the chief gently touches, then rubs Fitz's palm. Two minutes that cast us into eternity. What could it mean? A symbol of our underlying brotherhood, a first 'clash' between 'the civilized' and 'the wild?' I don't even pretend to know, nor do I particularly care, for the soothing, almost sensual warmth of the scene brings that inner peace that all great art should.

Ponderous? Deliberate? Yes and rightly so. Good things, great things, whether they be an exquisite meal, passionate lovemaking or the creation of a masterpiece, take their own time, irregardless of the frantic chaos that surrounds them. Fitzcarraldo is one such 'time-less' experience. Dive in and revel in its every breathtaking second!

Not only does this film enrichen our senses, it strengthens our hearts. Fitz instructs us on we should pursue our dreams. With relentless faith. Believe and yes, we can move mountains! And move our weighty burdens over them as well. Yes, they are painstaking and for every inch gained, we lose two more. Yes, there are casualties. For ourselves and for others. And yes, nobody believes you can really pull it off, but in the end, you shall have your vindication as did Fitz. Caruso on the Amazon? Watch and believe!

Towering!!
What can one say about this unique film experience. Herzog takes the viewer along for the great "ride" and we must pay attention.

The love of opera here is manifest in a way that is so compulsive and thereby so compelling that we have to take breaths often during this film.

All you F(x) experts can stay home and ponder your next bit of software on your bland and insufferable computers which dole out dreams as emotional as Hexadecimal!! Everything you see here is real and the passion of the vision is evident with Mr Kinski giving one of his Dr. Pretarious performances.

Hollywood bean counters and executives beware..This is a real film, this is cinema not the pap you have been shoveling the last 24 years. Finally, I would like to quote a,line by Paul Scofield in " The Train" to Burt Lancaster...and transpose the thought to those same hollywood bean counters " Letting you look at this film is like showing a " String of Pearls to an Ape"!

Fitzcarraldo a Rare film experience

Obscure history, writ large
Among the things that distinguish Werner Herzog as a film-maker are two qualities that he shares with William Shakespeare: he knows the human heart better than most dramatists, and he never lets the facts get in the way of telling a good story.

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called "Fitzcarraldo" by the natives) was a real guy, who really loved opera, and really did drag a ship over a piece of land to get it from one part of a South American river to another. He did it to bring opera to middle of the jungle. That's history. What drove this guy to do such a frankly outrageous thing in the name of art? What kind of fever siezes a visionary and brings him to the brink of insanity to attempt such a thing? That's the stuff of drama. Herzog knows the difference, and his choices in bringing the story to the screen were flawless.

Fitzcarraldo, like all of Herzong's films (even Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht), uses the theme of cultural clash as a macrocosm of the conflicted human mind. So what if the real boat was much smaller than the one in the film? Who cares if the real act of dragging it across land - though arduous - was not nearly so grand as the film depicts? The resultant images are what count, and they would not have the stunning effect Herzog pulls off in this film were it more "historically accurate".

All film directors do things for effect. What separates the good ones from the great is their reason. The once-great Frances Ford Coppola seems to be aiming for empty aesthetics with his last few films; Herzog wants nothing less than to illuminate the soul. It's a grand, quixotic goal; prone to failure - much like dragging a boat through the jungle. But he seems to pull it off time and time again. You remember the images, yes - they're hard to forget. But you also remember the passion of the characters - their desparate dreams, wild fantasies, great achievements, and devastating failures.

Klaus Kinski perfectly embodies the obsessive madness of the title character - albeit in a far less sinister way than in Aguirre: The Wrath of God. His performance is no less brilliant. Claudia Cardinale plays his love interest, the kind of woman whose heart every visionary dreams of winning.

In most treatments of this kind of story, one would expect things to end badly. They do for Fitz, but somehow it does not matter. He finds grace and dignity in the struggle, rather than the outcome. He is a brighter vision of Don Quixote, and the feeling of surviving his ordeal is, miraculously, more like that of triumph than defeat. Fitzcarraldo ends in exuberance rather than despair. How can a man lose everything and still raise his head so high, as Kinski does in the last scene?

Without a hint of sappy, artificial feel-good-ism, Herzog has pulled off one of the most authentically moving surprise happy endings in recent cinema.

Failure never looked so good! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Werner Herzog's remake of F.W. Murnau's original vampire classic is at once a generous tribute to the great German director and a distinctly unique vision by one of cinema's most idiosyncratic filmmakers. Though Murnau's Nosferatu was actually an unauthorized adaptation of BramStoker's Dracula, Herzog based his film largely on Murnau's conceptions--at times directly quoting Murnau's images--but manages to slip in a few references to Tod Browning's famous version (at one point the vampire comments on the howling wolves: "Listen, the children of the night make their music."). Longtime Herzog star Klaus Kinski is both hideous and melancholy as Nosferatu (renamed Count Dracula in the English language version). As in Murnau's film, he's a veritable gargoyle with his bald pate and sunken eyes, and his talon-like fingernails and two snaggly fangs give him a distinctly feral quality. But Kinski's haunting eyes also communicate a gloomy loneliness--the curse of his undead immortality--and his yearning for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) becomes a melancholy desire for love. Bruno Ganz's sincere but foolish Jonathan is doomed to the vampire's will and his wife, Lucy, a holy innocent whose deathly pallor and nocturnal visions link her with the ghoulish Nosferatu, becomes the only hope against the monster's plague-like curse. Herzog's dreamy, delicate images and languid pacing create a stunningly beautiful film of otherworldly mood, a faithful reinterpretation that by the conclusion has been shaped into a quintessentially Herzog vision. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (82)

Werner Herzog creates the ultimate vampire.
Nosferatu was originally a German expressionist film, much in the style of "The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari. Moody, extremley gothic, and very scary, shot in Germany in 1922. Max Schreck played the part of Nosferatu, aka Count Orlok, the ugliest, scariest Dracula in cinematic history. Orlak is tall and skinny, shriveled, actually, with elongated limbs, and long, sharp claws for hands. He is ancient as well. We have no leading man type here, a la Christopher Lee, who was actually a sex symbol back in the late sixties, or handsome Bela, Frank Langella, or more recently, Gary Oldman. Orlak is the combination of an evil old man, mixed with a rodent. His ears are batlike, his eyes, wide and scary, a beak nose, and his full lips hide long, ratlike fangs. He is bald as well. Klaus Kinski captured Nosferatu to a tee, although Klaus is well, flat out not as ugly as Schrek. the story is virtually Dracula retold, including Harker's trip to Transylvania, the Count buying Real Estate, the Count lusting after Lucy, and Lucy's sacrifice. There is a hidden eroticism in the final scene with Lucy that must be seen to be believed. Lucy, by the way, is portrayed by the ever sexy Isabelle Adjani, and she portays a perfect damsel in distress, who knows what she must do. The contrast in Lucy's beauty, compared to Orlak's hideous repulsiveness, only adds to the erotic chemistry that is on the screen during their scenes together, especially when Lucy is first confronted by the lustful old vampire, and he demands her love. During the famous, final scene, we see Orlak consumate his vampiric love, in full detail. Lucy almost seems to be enjoying it. Orlak must have Lucy, even if it means that his very existance is the price to be paid, so he enjoys his night of bloodlust, and lovemaking to the fullest. The movie is atmospheric, and well acted throughout, although the Van Helsing character seems a bit powerless. Then again, aside from Lucy's sacrificial beauty, what can stop the evil Count Orlak.....Highly recommended.

Cerebral, dream-like horror
Nosferatu unfolds like a languorous, disturbing dream. The images have an hallucinogenic, archetypal quality: mummified human remains in an ancient tomb; the figure of a woman sitting on a beach studded with tombstones; a dead sea-captain lashed to the wheel of a deserted sailing ship.

Like Kubrick's The Shining, Nosferatu is less a standard genre film than a singular expression of a filmmaker's vision. Writer-director Werner Herzog began with F.W. Murnau's expressionist classic, mixed in elements from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, then set about creating a meditation on the vampire myth. What would it really mean to live forever, and be compelled to feed on the blood of others? What of the unspeakable boredom? The longing for companionship? For normalcy? For death? As played by Klaus Kinski, Herzog's Dracula has spent hundreds, if not thousands of years alone with these thoughts. He is the ultimate poster boy for German angst. If not for the skill of his performance and Herzog's direction, he might have lapsed into self-parody.

There are shots that all but reproduce moments from the silent classic - right down to the overwrought body language. But Herzog, Kinski, and the rest of the cast (including Bruno Ganz as Jonathon Harker and Isabelle Adjani as his wife Lucy) keep it in check and keep it beautifully stylized, so it all works.

Probably due to the involvement of American studio 20th-Century Fox, Nosferatu was shot in both English and German versions. Both are on this double-sided DVD; comparing them is instructive, since there are non-trivial differences in the visual construction of both films. Most critics agree (and I concur) that the German one is superior.

Finally, to get an idea of whether you will like this - or any - Werner Herzog film, take the Armageddon-Matrix test: if you hated Armageddon because it was empty and overblown, but kind of liked The Matrix because of its ideas, then you may like Nosferatu. If, on the other hand, you thought Armageddon rocked, but only kind of liked The Matrix because it was slow in places, then don't even think about it.

Good remake!
Remakes don't get much better that this, lets give a round of applause to the drictor, it's hard to make a remake of a classic film. So the film follows the story of the orignal, some guy goes to see Dracula, who he later bits( the guy goes crazy). Dracula later takes a ship to England and starts a rampage of death. This film does not have as much action as the first but it's still fun to wach. Make-up for Dracula rocked. Worth every penny.

The Classic Art-House Version of Dracula
For our second outing between Kinski and Herzog we find that the director has chosen to remake, or rather retell, his favorite film of all time - 'Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens' by F.W. Murnau (1922), while at the same time adapting more of the original Stoker novel into the remake, using the original name of Count Dracula (Kinski) instead of Orlok and injecting his own take on the story of Dracula (in German), which for all intensive purposes is a story about 'tragedy' and Herzog has correctly identified this main theme that would help levitate this entry to one of the all time great art-house horror films with images of Kinski's vampire often filling many film magazine pages and posters. In fact, it is Herzog's most commercial and accessible film to date. It was this telling of the Dracula story that influenced Coppola to remake the Stoker novel entirely into a film. It was not the first time Coppola had been influenced by Herzog. Coppola learned from Kinski and Herzog in "Aguirre: Wraith of God" that guerilla film making while going up a jungle river would be just what he needed for his version of Conrad's "Hearts of Darkness" (Apocalypse Now).

The usual Kinski/Herzog display of frustration is more subtle in this film than all the others probably because the beautiful Isabelle Adjani keeps Kinski distracted long enough for him not get angry with Herzog's cruel daily shoots to 'get it right' and deliberately making the actors and actresses angry for their performances. Here everyone just looks deathly sick and move extremely slowly. Even Adjani looks paler than Kinski at times. For some reason this has given Herzog a more controlled approach to this film with certainly less improvisation and 'on the spot' acting than any of his other collaborations with Kinski. Here we see a mix of Herzog's favorite - Tarkovsky's slow shooting style while cutting in shots of water (Herzog uses a bat in slow motion) and some sort of strange cinematic art house presence that we would see in many of Andy Warhol's productions. Herzog also gets the lighting just right and the cinematography is sublime - watching Kinski materialize from the darkness is again some of the most memorable images in art house cinema ever. Herzog also brings coffins en masse for display. Black coffins play a major role in the design throughout the film. Later on during a plague thousands of rats covering a city become central to Herzog's eye for capturing horror (a formal dinner takes place among hundreds of rats because the diners have the plague and wish to make the best of it before they die) - again extremely visionary and talented. Adjani puts on an amazing performance while remaining stunning under all the white. In one classic scene where she is confronted by Kinski she looks and acts more scary than Kinski almost performing him off the screen. The ending is an erotic take on the original film with Kinski touching Adjani all over, but the acting is excellent. The final twist comes as a shocker and is a bit funny. The end scene is like something out of a great Western and looks spectacular. Also the strange atmosphere of holiness is found throughout this film more than in any other Herzog/Kinski collaboration. The use of Orchestral sounds makes it all the more eerie while at the same time retaining that spirited electric connection to the presentation of madness that Herzog and Kinski are so well noted for.

'Nosferatu the Vampyre' is probably one of the most original art house horror films ever made even though the subject matter has been beaten to death, however it still ranks up there as one of the best versions of Dracula you can see. The DVD transfer is good and crisp. The aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and there are a lot of extras including director's commentary. By the way you can get the Kinski/Herzog box set of 6 films for a few quid extra than this stand alone DVD. Go look for it.

Belief and Science Clash
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht directed by Werner Herzog, is really a color remake of the 1922 film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens directed by F.W. Murnau. There are a couple of name changes: Count Orlok became Count Dracula; Jonathan's fiancée Nina became Jonathan's wife Lucy. The original film was silent and in black and white, where the 1979 version is in color and is in German with English subtitles.

However the plot is close to Bram Stoker's book on Count Dracula which has a very similar plot line and story. F.W. Murnau bought the movie rights to the film; however these rights were owned by Bram's widow Florence and she refused to allow the use of the name and storyline. Even though Murnau had changed the major names of the main characters (Count Dracula, Thomas and his wife Ellen) and location enough similarity remained that Florence took the case to court and in July of 1925 the German court ordered all the copies of the movie destroyed. However a few copies did manage to survive.

While the film starts off slow it shows spectacular scenes of an ocean voyage, and waterfalls experienced during Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) Harker's journey to Count (Klaus Kinski) Dracula's castle. The contrast with his return trip is startling, since he was healthy when he started, but on the return is very sickly and barely alive. The Count's journey is very stark, his companions' death and rats board another ship, which glides into port with no one left alive on board except the rats. As the rats depart the ship one reminded of the story of Ben, where the rats were everywhere and out of control.
An interesting dilemma in this film is the direct confrontation of belief in the existence of the supernatural and sacramental with belief in the rationale of science. Science was believed to able to explain away rationally anything that happened out of the ordinary. Yet here it could not produce an answer for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) Harker. The way that this was shown was that after consulting with the town physician, Lucy broke and crumbed the Eucharist around Jonathan to keep him locked into a chair in a corner all night, while she became the sacrificed lamb to save him from the Count and death. While she did this out of her love for Jonathan, her sacrifice resulted in the final demise of Count Dracula and her own death. Yet Jonathan in essence lives on to carry the legacy of the living dead, alive yet not fully. The last that is seen of Jonathan is when he is released from his imposed prison, by the removal of the broken host around him, he declares that he has much work to accomplish he mounts a horse and rides off. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Reconciling different dreams in the Australian outback
If you have seen other movies by Werner Herzog (e.g. Aguirre the Wrath of God), this movie might remind you of his familiar theme of the collision of modern out-of-balance civilization with savage or state-of-nature blissful mysticism. A land dispute pits a powerful Australian mining company against a group of Aborigines who believe this sacred land is where mythical green ants dream (the title of the film). But unlike the straightforward good guy vs. bad guy movie, this plot unfolds amidst a slow but definite transformation of the characters on both sides of the dispute (and the judge who medaties the dispute), all of whom live through this encounter in different ways. Don't worry -this movie does not beat a pious message into your head.

tops
This and a few films by Aki Kaurismaki, and Wenders' American Friend are the only ones that I need to see more than once. I've seen this movie about a dozen times and its understated tragedies are compelling without shrieking. Great video, if you can find a copy. There is a good essay about this film by a follower of Jean-Francois Lyotard in the book Judging Lyotard.

Open Your Eyes to the Dreams of the Green Ants
There is amazing beauty in the stark outback of Australia where Herzog filmed this drama. It's the simple story of Aboriginals who are trying to save their reality from the onslaught of civilization.

Herzog turns the story into pure poetry which opens your mind to other versions of reality. All the characters he introduces are amazingly rich and complex. The are no absolute good or bad characters. Instead there is a world full of people who must act within the rules of their own particular realities.

I'm watched it multiple times and the film always shakes my belief in the "absolute truth" of my metaphysical system. Each time I realize that perhaps my version reality is not the only possibility. This is not a bad experience, rather it opens new worlds for me to explore.

I recommend this video for those who have an open mind. The video quality is so - so, but that only adds to the charm of the movie.

Good plot, but movie doesn't match it
Another movie from Werner Herzog that's a disappointment. He has a knack for coming up with great sounding plots, but once I sat through this the first time I felt cheated. The movie's plot is interesting in that it deals with man's total disregard for the environment, aboriginal people, and nature. The movie is just sluggish and uncaptiviating. Not recommended.

Where the two worlds collide....
He tells us a tale plain and simple. Wisdom of centuries against the science of the modern man. Complete essence of communication is summed up with one single character that appears for a brief moment and touches your heart...the last surviving man of a tribe who never speaks because there's no one who will understand him. Highly reccommended for people who like to use their intellect when watching films. ... Read more

Reviews (76)

Herzog's visionary film is one of the greats!!
Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God is one of the great achievements of the incredible New German Cinema movement of the 1970's. The film's "story" has been discussed elsewhere on this page so I won't bother to repeat it. But really, this is no plot to speak of. This is a mood piece, a dream of a film. It is a study of power and delusions and if that sounds boring, believe me its NOT. The visuals are extraordinary (typical of a Herzog film). From the films incredible opening shot of a long line of men as they snake thier way down a mountain to the final shot, which is one of the most memorable in cinema, of a mad Aguirre on a raft surrounded by corpses and small monkeys floating down the river. Adding to the dreamlike effect is the eerie music of Popol Vuh. Aguirre is a memorable film experience that you should'nt miss. I commend Anchor Bay for releasing Herzog's entire output on DVD, this a definitely one for your personal library at home. Very highly recommeded!

Entertaining but eerie.
This film has always been a sentimental favorite of mine, although it is definitely not a mainstream movie with mass appeal. It chronicles the eerie, haunting, and morbid journey of a group of fifteenth century Spanish conquistadores who break off from Pizzaro's group and head into the deepest parts of the Amazon jungle in search of gold. They are swallowed up, one by one, by unseen natural forces in the jungle, and also by the paranoia and insanity of their leader Aguirre (Kinski). It is well deserving of its reputation as a cult classic, and it is one of Kinski's signature pieces. Showcasing his ability to create a bizzare, twisted and disturbing persona. Since the conquistadores are eventually lead to destruction by Aguirres lust for power and riches it is almost a metaphore of the entire history of the Spanish conquests of South America. The film is actually shot in several languages (including English), then DUBBED into GERMAN, and then SUBTITLED back into English again; which gives the whole thing a rather strange appearance. Kinski's daughter Nastashia is also in the film, playing Aguirre's daughter. Her character is not well developed, and she is only there to show that there IS actually something in the world that Aguirre cares about besides gold. Nevertheless, it is a novelty to see her in her movie debut, before she became famous in her own right. I recommend the movie to those who like offbeat 'artistic' films, and cult classics, but not to those who are looking for light entertainment or an adventure movie.

The doomed quest for El Dorado
I am new to Warner Herzog, and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is the 2nd of his films that I have seen. Like many directors with strong artistic visions, I have found his style a bit hard to adapt to but I am appreciating it more and more. The grotesque colors he uses are particularly noteworthy, lending a feeling of unreality that contrasts with the naked realism of his films. The visual images are haunting, and linger after the film is over. The Wrath of God and 400 little monkeys...

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is by no means an easy film to get into. The characters are brutal and uninviting, and it is impossible to sympathize with their plight, the conquest of the native peoples. Like the river they travel on, the armored conquistadors move slowly but relentlessly forward, pieces of their humanity and sanity falling off along the way. At one scene in particular, the soldiers dispassionately watch their fellows trapped in a river eddy, discussion whether or not they should attempt a rescue with no more urgency or care than wondering if they should have coffee or tea. The peruvian natives are equally unsympathetic, picking off the soldiers slowly from the jungle, invisible and dangerous. One can see the influence it must have had on"Apocalypse Now."

People call this film dreamlike, and that maybe, but it is also brutally realistic, dirty and harsh. There is a sense that this is exactly what it would be like. There is a definite sense that animals were harmed during the filming, and that people were harmed as well. No camera trickery or artistic license is taken. All deaths are ignoble. Klaus Kinski, as Aguirre, is an uncharismatic Richard III,. slightly hunchbacked and ugly, leading his followers down a mad path that can have only one destination.

Herzog and Kinski's Vision of Manifested Madness
On the eastern slopes of the Andes during the Spanish expedition , Gonzalo Pizarro urges his men to continue through the thick Amazon forests despite the dangers within the dark and humid jungle. The tale of Pizarro's venture begins with an ominous warning as it is revealed to the audience that the only surviving evidence of the expedition is a journal kept by Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, a monk who travels to spread the gospel of Christianity. This bleak foreshadowing induces an inching uneasiness into the mind of the audience. This is enhanced by further looming incidents such as native slaves dying like flies from simple colds and food shortage. The low supply of food leads to a decision to split the group where one group should return for provisions and the other should continue searching for a gold shimmering city. This tale then follows the ill-fated who continue the journey for the legendary city as they are drawn deeper into the cruel world of the Amazon. Deaths of several men forebode the grim future of the expedition, which the leadership wants to call off and return to the safety of civilization. However, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a high ranking soldier, commands a rise against the leadership based on a proud vision of greatness and worldly riches beyond imagination that drives him to thrust deeper into the unexplored rainforest. Aguirre's vision draws the expedition into a personal realm of madness and destruction, which leads to only one certain fate.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God has a lingering effect on the audience as the eerie atmosphere created by Herzog persists from the initial shot to the final scene. There are several components that generate this bizarre ambiance of the story such as cinematography, idiosyncrasies, mise-en-scene, and performances by the cast. The cinematography is simple and sometimes documentary-like, which produces a real feeling. This real feeling together with the uncanny knowledge of the unavoidable doom enhances the extraordinary atmosphere of the venture. The complete portrait of the character Aguirre by Klaus Kinski is nothing but spectacular. Herzog's choice of mise-en-scene is delicately chosen as all the items had to be transported by the expedition. Each item within each frame displays a significant symbolism such as the horse and raft, which adds new layers to the unnatural atmosphere. Lastly, the performances by the cast are outstanding as it is not the dialogue that drives the story forward, but the visual manifestation of their being that elevates the outlandish impression of each scene. When Herzog combined all the aspects of film-making in Aguirre: The Wrath of God he left the world a brilliantly eerie cinematic experience that will leave several notions in reflecting minds.

Herzog and Kinski go Tarkovsky.
Wraith of God was actually made in 1972 in German and got its US debut in 1977 and provided Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) with a vision. The film is pure art through and through using the Amazon River as a backdrop for the epic tale of Spanish conquistadors finding themselves abandoned in South America on a quest to find the legendary city of gold 'El Dorado'. Set a few decades after the Inca Empire has fallen in the 16th century, these troops of Spanish explorers have been selected by the head explorer for the region, and founder of Mexico - Pizarro, to find the lost gold. Within a few days of being on the Amazon the conquistadors are split on the rapids. Soon there is a mutiny, murder, revenge and betrayal as the dreams of vast wealth and power drive all of them to their doom.

The combination of Kinski and Herzog is electric. Here, on a shoe-string budget, they make mountains out of nothing as Tarkovsky did on 'Stalker'. The costumes and sets are all obviously mostly made by the actors and whatever film crew that would actually risk hanging around Herzog and Kinski for the gung-ho shoot. This is kino-art's rendition of Hearts of Darkness. The actual suffering of the film crew (and some cruelty to animals - several horse falling scenes, the pillaging of a village with an attack on pigs and a monkey being thrown aside) is clearly visible in the narrative which borders on extreme adlibbing most of the time as well as hard labour (moving a cannon on a small wagon around the jungle, building rafts with a toilet on board and living off the land). The improvisation though is classic in every sense of the word making Herzog and Kinski instant important additions to the world of high profile art film makers. The cinematography is spot on. The majority of it is hand-held but the images of the jungle are striking and the final shots of the circling raft are sublime. Seeing Kinski chasing monkeys around the raft is also some of the most memorising and breathtakingly remarkable scenes in cinema. The film is one of the most unusual you have ever seen and becomes psychotic towards the final stages showing the craziness of our characters search for the gold - a reflection of the exertions of the crew and actors. Kinski is outstanding as the deranged Don Lope de Aguirre who trying to follow in Pizarro's footsteps even manages to take his family into hell with him. There is an excellent plot element involving a mock trial with a monk as a judge and the crowning of a pseudo-king that will have you in disbelief. The film is so lucidly insane that it will captivate you within the first few minutes. By the time the credits role you will have experienced an epic completed with a few actors, a raft, some animals and natives and yet have witness something as grand and epic as 'Spartacus'. Herzog is a crazed genius and the world is his strange colloid laboratory.

'Aguirre' is up there with the ranks of 'Andre Rublev' and 'Apocalypse Now' however Kinski and Herzog did go one better when they made 'Fitzcarraldo'(they tow a steam ship up a mountain... really!). The aspect ratio of this film is 1.37:1 meaning that it is not in widescreen or letterbox, but it was originally filmed as a square almost (fitting television perfectly). The transfer is extremely good although I believe that this is not a new transfer and was probably encoded from a very good master video tape (Beta SP) for German television broadcast and not from a 35mm film print. No one is complaining though because the quality is extremely good. The extras (documentaries, commentaries) are a must. By the way you can get the Kinski/Herzog box set of 6 films for a few quid extra than this stand alone DVD. Go look for it. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A MASTERPIECE, ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER MADE!
Werner Herzog's Stroszek (1977) is one of the ten greatest films ever made. It's almost equally as good as Herzog's The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) and Aguirre the Wrath of God (1973).

Bruno S., the unknown soldier of cinema once again gives one of the finest performances I've ever seen. Eva Mattes is also wonderful as the prostitute Eva who along with Bruno and Herr Scheitz decide to emigrate from Berlin to Wisconsin to fulfill the elusive American dream. This tragicomedy is one of the bleakest films I've ever seen and also one of the funniest.

Herzog's brilliant film making style gives the entire film the look and feel of a documentary, yet like all of his films Stroszek is highly stylized. An absolute masterpiece! Rating: A 10 out of 10.

A Rare Gem
I find it frustrating that American filmmakers cannot make a film as good as this one is. The whole story of misplaced hopes and lost dreams on the dreary American landscape is more powerful in it's telling than many films have been. The action of this film moves us from birth to death in a philosophical journey of the soul. The arrival of these obviously hopeful and distraught people on American shores is like the rebirth many immigrants went through when they escaped their own countries and arrived here. Dreams of streets paved with gold and the easy credit of American commerce is the undoing of many yet, here we see the disaster of it all. One doesn't have to be a recent immigrant to experience the foibles of modern credit like our characters do. They exemplify it though and it is to their peril that they do not understand it. The closing scene where we hear the solitary gunshot is most powerful. That it is done near a roadside zoo with it's caged animals is perfect because it portrays the cage our man has put himself into. There is only one way out, he takes it. Like many powerful financiers of the twenties who lost everything he does the only thing which will solve his problems.
The gunshot is his goodbye to his problems and the beginning of his new life. A shame that American studios cannot produce movies such as this. They are in need of lessons from directors who understand cinema and should study films of this type. Maybe they will be able to improve the fare they offer to us.

1st favorite farting film
The 2nd favorite, if you are interested, is Good Morning, by Ozu, of course, of course.
I am not interested in contracting AIDS! Sorry!

"Is This Really Me?"
Absolutely brilliant. Stroszek is THE quintessential film on the American experience. A dark fable revolving around the hopes and dreams of three postwar Germans and the disintegration of a relationship. But also incredibly funny and cynical. Herzog's best film to date, in my opinion.

GREAT MOVIE
Superb direction.

Once again, Herzog takes relative unknown and fairly untested talent, mixes in a few real actors and come away with a movie that's much,much more than following the typical storyline to the end.

As funny as you want, as dramatic as possible. Herzog is a genius. He's done it again!!! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

One of Werner Herzog's Best Films
Signs of Life is Werner Herzog's very first feature film and also one of his best. The script may have even inspired Stephen King's novel The Shining. In Signs of Life we have an injured soldier and his wife working as the caretakers of a military fortress on a Greek island. The soldier eventually goes mad with boredom and tries to kill his wife and everyone else.

Werner Herzog wrote the script himself in 1964 and made the film in 1967 with only $20,000 at age twenty-five. Herzog's script is amazing and the actors all perform flawlessly. Signs of Life has Herzog's distinctive slow pace which may seem like torture to the average viewer who's been forced-fed a steady diet of fast food images. This masterpiece has great photography and a great use of original Greek music. This film reminds me of Roman Polanski's first feature film Knife in the Water (1962).

...

One of Herzog's Best!!
This is an unbelievably beautiful and poetic film! Great music and cinematography, and a fascinating meditation on the human condition. A wonderful debut by Herzog, an absolute must for fans! In my opinion this is among his best, along with Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, and Kaspar Hauser. A DVD release of this is desparately needed!

Herzog's first film
If you like Herzog, do not miss this one. Herzog's usual leisurely pace is meant to draw you in before he unleashes the film. I love Herzog because he is so different from our Hollywood directors. He seems unconcerned with any commercial success and had an original outlook on life in his films. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Werner Herzog's documentary on the Wodaabe Tribe
German director Werner Herzog is known for setting his feature films such as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and "Fitzcarraldo" in remote places inhabited by primitive people, so it is not all that surprising that this documentary studies the Wodaabe, a tribe of Saharan nomads whose life has not progressed much beyond the Stone Age. Herzog, an interesting anthropologist to be sure, is captivated by the mating rituals of the tribe, in which the men make themselves beautiful so that the women can select their husbands. An interesting film, but do not expect it to be comparable to Herzog's dramatic work. ... Read more

Reviews (76)

Herzog's visionary film is one of the greats!!
Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God is one of the great achievements of the incredible New German Cinema movement of the 1970's. The film's "story" has been discussed elsewhere on this page so I won't bother to repeat it. But really, this is no plot to speak of. This is a mood piece, a dream of a film. It is a study of power and delusions and if that sounds boring, believe me its NOT. The visuals are extraordinary (typical of a Herzog film). From the films incredible opening shot of a long line of men as they snake thier way down a mountain to the final shot, which is one of the most memorable in cinema, of a mad Aguirre on a raft surrounded by corpses and small monkeys floating down the river. Adding to the dreamlike effect is the eerie music of Popol Vuh. Aguirre is a memorable film experience that you should'nt miss. I commend Anchor Bay for releasing Herzog's entire output on DVD, this a definitely one for your personal library at home. Very highly recommeded!

Entertaining but eerie.
This film has always been a sentimental favorite of mine, although it is definitely not a mainstream movie with mass appeal. It chronicles the eerie, haunting, and morbid journey of a group of fifteenth century Spanish conquistadores who break off from Pizzaro's group and head into the deepest parts of the Amazon jungle in search of gold. They are swallowed up, one by one, by unseen natural forces in the jungle, and also by the paranoia and insanity of their leader Aguirre (Kinski). It is well deserving of its reputation as a cult classic, and it is one of Kinski's signature pieces. Showcasing his ability to create a bizzare, twisted and disturbing persona. Since the conquistadores are eventually lead to destruction by Aguirres lust for power and riches it is almost a metaphore of the entire history of the Spanish conquests of South America. The film is actually shot in several languages (including English), then DUBBED into GERMAN, and then SUBTITLED back into English again; which gives the whole thing a rather strange appearance. Kinski's daughter Nastashia is also in the film, playing Aguirre's daughter. Her character is not well developed, and she is only there to show that there IS actually something in the world that Aguirre cares about besides gold. Nevertheless, it is a novelty to see her in her movie debut, before she became famous in her own right. I recommend the movie to those who like offbeat 'artistic' films, and cult classics, but not to those who are looking for light entertainment or an adventure movie.

The doomed quest for El Dorado
I am new to Warner Herzog, and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is the 2nd of his films that I have seen. Like many directors with strong artistic visions, I have found his style a bit hard to adapt to but I am appreciating it more and more. The grotesque colors he uses are particularly noteworthy, lending a feeling of unreality that contrasts with the naked realism of his films. The visual images are haunting, and linger after the film is over. The Wrath of God and 400 little monkeys...

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" is by no means an easy film to get into. The characters are brutal and uninviting, and it is impossible to sympathize with their plight, the conquest of the native peoples. Like the river they travel on, the armored conquistadors move slowly but relentlessly forward, pieces of their humanity and sanity falling off along the way. At one scene in particular, the soldiers dispassionately watch their fellows trapped in a river eddy, discussion whether or not they should attempt a rescue with no more urgency or care than wondering if they should have coffee or tea. The peruvian natives are equally unsympathetic, picking off the soldiers slowly from the jungle, invisible and dangerous. One can see the influence it must have had on"Apocalypse Now."

People call this film dreamlike, and that maybe, but it is also brutally realistic, dirty and harsh. There is a sense that this is exactly what it would be like. There is a definite sense that animals were harmed during the filming, and that people were harmed as well. No camera trickery or artistic license is taken. All deaths are ignoble. Klaus Kinski, as Aguirre, is an uncharismatic Richard III,. slightly hunchbacked and ugly, leading his followers down a mad path that can have only one destination.

Herzog and Kinski's Vision of Manifested Madness
On the eastern slopes of the Andes during the Spanish expedition , Gonzalo Pizarro urges his men to continue through the thick Amazon forests despite the dangers within the dark and humid jungle. The tale of Pizarro's venture begins with an ominous warning as it is revealed to the audience that the only surviving evidence of the expedition is a journal kept by Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, a monk who travels to spread the gospel of Christianity. This bleak foreshadowing induces an inching uneasiness into the mind of the audience. This is enhanced by further looming incidents such as native slaves dying like flies from simple colds and food shortage. The low supply of food leads to a decision to split the group where one group should return for provisions and the other should continue searching for a gold shimmering city. This tale then follows the ill-fated who continue the journey for the legendary city as they are drawn deeper into the cruel world of the Amazon. Deaths of several men forebode the grim future of the expedition, which the leadership wants to call off and return to the safety of civilization. However, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a high ranking soldier, commands a rise against the leadership based on a proud vision of greatness and worldly riches beyond imagination that drives him to thrust deeper into the unexplored rainforest. Aguirre's vision draws the expedition into a personal realm of madness and destruction, which leads to only one certain fate.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God has a lingering effect on the audience as the eerie atmosphere created by Herzog persists from the initial shot to the final scene. There are several components that generate this bizarre ambiance of the story such as cinematography, idiosyncrasies, mise-en-scene, and performances by the cast. The cinematography is simple and sometimes documentary-like, which produces a real feeling. This real feeling together with the uncanny knowledge of the unavoidable doom enhances the extraordinary atmosphere of the venture. The complete portrait of the character Aguirre by Klaus Kinski is nothing but spectacular. Herzog's choice of mise-en-scene is delicately chosen as all the items had to be transported by the expedition. Each item within each frame displays a significant symbolism such as the horse and raft, which adds new layers to the unnatural atmosphere. Lastly, the performances by the cast are outstanding as it is not the dialogue that drives the story forward, but the visual manifestation of their being that elevates the outlandish impression of each scene. When Herzog combined all the aspects of film-making in Aguirre: The Wrath of God he left the world a brilliantly eerie cinematic experience that will leave several notions in reflecting minds.

Herzog and Kinski go Tarkovsky.
Wraith of God was actually made in 1972 in German and got its US debut in 1977 and provided Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) with a vision. The film is pure art through and through using the Amazon River as a backdrop for the epic tale of Spanish conquistadors finding themselves abandoned in South America on a quest to find the legendary city of gold 'El Dorado'. Set a few decades after the Inca Empire has fallen in the 16th century, these troops of Spanish explorers have been selected by the head explorer for the region, and founder of Mexico - Pizarro, to find the lost gold. Within a few days of being on the Amazon the conquistadors are split on the rapids. Soon there is a mutiny, murder, revenge and betrayal as the dreams of vast wealth and power drive all of them to their doom.

The combination of Kinski and Herzog is electric. Here, on a shoe-string budget, they make mountains out of nothing as Tarkovsky did on 'Stalker'. The costumes and sets are all obviously mostly made by the actors and whatever film crew that would actually risk hanging around Herzog and Kinski for the gung-ho shoot. This is kino-art's rendition of Hearts of Darkness. The actual suffering of the film crew (and some cruelty to animals - several horse falling scenes, the pillaging of a village with an attack on pigs and a monkey being thrown aside) is clearly visible in the narrative which borders on extreme adlibbing most of the time as well as hard labour (moving a cannon on a small wagon around the jungle, building rafts with a toilet on board and living off the land). The improvisation though is classic in every sense of the word making Herzog and Kinski instant important additions to the world of high profile art film makers. The cinematography is spot on. The majority of it is hand-held but the images of the jungle are striking and the final shots of the circling raft are sublime. Seeing Kinski chasing monkeys around the raft is also some of the most memorising and breathtakingly remarkable scenes in cinema. The film is one of the most unusual you have ever seen and becomes psychotic towards the final stages showing the craziness of our characters search for the gold - a reflection of the exertions of the crew and actors. Kinski is outstanding as the deranged Don Lope de Aguirre who trying to follow in Pizarro's footsteps even manages to take his family into hell with him. There is an excellent plot element involving a mock trial with a monk as a judge and the crowning of a pseudo-king that will have you in disbelief. The film is so lucidly insane that it will captivate you within the first few minutes. By the time the credits role you will have experienced an epic completed with a few actors, a raft, some animals and natives and yet have witness something as grand and epic as 'Spartacus'. Herzog is a crazed genius and the world is his strange colloid laboratory.

'Aguirre' is up there with the ranks of 'Andre Rublev' and 'Apocalypse Now' however Kinski and Herzog did go one better when they made 'Fitzcarraldo'(they tow a steam ship up a mountain... really!). The aspect ratio of this film is 1.37:1 meaning that it is not in widescreen or letterbox, but it was originally filmed as a square almost (fitting television perfectly). The transfer is extremely good although I believe that this is not a new transfer and was probably encoded from a very good master video tape (Beta SP) for German television broadcast and not from a 35mm film print. No one is complaining though because the quality is extremely good. The extras (documentaries, commentaries) are a must. By the way you can get the Kinski/Herzog box set of 6 films for a few quid extra than this stand alone DVD. Go look for it. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Excellent and Moving Film
Werner Herzog makes great and fascinating movies - there's no doubt about it. His films are just "neat" (for lack of a better word). I love Herzong's films, and the "Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" is one of his best. This movie represents well, the Romantic era in general. It's very well done, historically.
I don't know much about the true story behind Kaspar Hauser's life: who he was, where he came from, etc., but this movie held my interest deeply. It was a perplexing and stimulating story that truly made me think about a lot of things.
Bruno S. always wanted his identity to be kept somewhat secret, so that is why we call him "Bruno S.". You gotta' respect that kind of "anti-Hollywood" mentality - that's so antifamous and noble. The lead character is brilliant in this film and Bruno S. should have received an Oscar. This is a true and genuine performance; so real. This is one of those roles that no one else could have ever played. It was made for Bruno and he for it. Bruno S. is Kaspar Hauser and Kaspar Hauser is Bruno S.!
This movie is wonderful - I loved every minute of it. Werner Herzong is a genius and Bruno S. is a natural!

This DVD comes with a nice picture (slightly grainy) and with a commentary soundtrack by a film critic interviewing director Werner Herzog himself.

There are really good movies...
...there are great movies, and then there is "Kaspar Hauser". Those unfamiliar with it, or unfamiliar with the films of Werner Herzog in general, should remedy the situation at their earliest convenience.

If you have ever been stirred to the marrow by a film performance, grab plenty of Kleenex -maybe don a raincoat- before sitting down to meet Bruno S.

God bless Werner Herzog.

The Most Powerful Film Ever Made
Not only is The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser Werner Herzog's best film but it is without question one of the 5 greatest films of all time. This movie has some of the most astonishing and powerful images ever committed to film. One of the opening shot's is that of a wheat field blowing in the wind while Pachelbel's Cannon plays and the following words appear on the screen; "Don't you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence." This sequence perfectly captures the essence of this film. The beauty of suffering seen through the eyes of a man that is completing untainted and untouched by society. This movie will change your life. This movie has amazing cinematography, a genius use of music, astonishing performances and Werner Herzog's direction is unbelievable.

Kaspar Hauser by any other name . . .
First, the original title of this film is *not* The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. It's Every Man For Himself And God Against All. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - also The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser - are America-only titles. That really doesn't detract from anything, but if you're ever looking for information on the film, you might want to know.

This is a great dvd, with a mildly informative biography of Herzog and (yay!) commentary from him.

The commentary is very worth listening to - more informative, I think, than the Criterion version's film essay would have been in this case. Herzog is a very interesting man with a very storied past, and this commentary explores that. Norman Hill - who shares the English track - seems to have been put there for the sole purpose of prompting Herzog into speech and gets grating after a while.

The movie itself is also wonderful - even if it feels at times to be missing Klaus Kinski, Herzog's lifelong friend and actor. This is due mainly to the way that Kaspar Hauser shares the feel of Herzog's more famous work, Aguirre - The Wrath of God. Many of the shots are the same: foggy landscapes shot through multiple lenses to disassociate the viewer from them, images of isolation on the water, and, of course, the controlled manner of speech which Bruno S. adopts for the film. There's even a moment where Bruno steps out in front of the camera in the very same fashion that Kinski invented for Aguirre.

A very worthwhile DVD, my only problem comes with the subtitles. While they seem (mostly - Herzog comments on one or two moments) to be adequate translations, they are at times unreadable. I'm not sure how escapable that is given that this is a colour film, but it seems Criterion have done an ample job on similar works. Cries and Whispers comes to mind. That one flaw, however, is minor and should in no way detract you from purchasing.

Excellent transfer of superb, unique film
This has been a favorite since I first saw it in a college film series soon after it came out. Among the 80 or so DVDs I have bought, I rank it at the very top for fidelity to the color and texture of the original film. The sound is also crystal clear. If you look hard enough you'll find the occasional artifact, but they are drowned out for me by the natural look.
I hope the DVD version brings this treasure to a whole new audience.
(An added bonus for students of German is the ability to turn off the subtitles.)
Now all I want to know is when the hell I'll be able to get La Dolce Vita on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (34)

One of the Greatest Films Ever...I Was Stunned
It shocks me that I had never even HEARD of "Fitzcarraldo" a week ago (nor did I know who Werner Herzog was), and now that I've seen it I consider it to be one of the 10 best films I've ever seen in my life, right up there with "Vertigo," "Once Upon A Time In The West," and "Rashomon."

The pacing of this film is slow, languid, and dreamlike, and allows the viewer to really immerse him/herself in the brooding jungle atmosphere. I never realized how contrived most American movies felt, until I experienced the stark reality of Werner Herzog's documentary-like style. "Fitzcarraldo" blurs the line between reality and drama, utilizing actual natives in conjunction with his character-actors (including the brilliant and intense Klaus Kinski), who subject themselves to real hardships in order to lend the film legitimacy. The result feels like a cross between a surreal daydream and something out of National Geographic.

The transfer to DVD is virtually perfect. I was awestruck at the quality of the video and audio on this disc. The picture is gorgeous, in sweeping, flawless widescreen, and the sound is bright and alive. There are few extras on this disc, but the film itself was so satisfying that I didn't care.

I highly recommend the boxed set entitled "The Herzog/Kinski Collection," as it contains excellent DVD versions of all 5 of their collaborations, as well as Herzog's tribute to Kinski entitled "My Best Fiend," a fascinating portrait of their bizarre, yet intensely creative, working relationship. It will add to your appreciation of "Fitzcarraldo" and all of their films.

" Life without music would be a mistake"---Nietsche.
Documentaries have been made about the love/hate relationship between the greatest German director and the greatest German actor of the twentieth century. Kinski claimed that he kicked Herzog during the making of this film and that "Herzog groveled." For his part Herzog claimed that when Kinski threatened to walk off the set, Herzog took a high powered rifle and swore to Kinski that he would shoot him as his motorboat passed around the bend.( They were filming in the The Amazon ) Kinski stayed.

Only these two superbly talented megalomaniacs could have pulled off this tour de force of directing and acting.

Fitzcarraldo is, quite simply , one of the greatest films of all time. No other actor could have played the lead as well as Klaus Kinski, and no other director could have conceived eschewing props and actually hauling a 300 ton steamship over a mountain, or, for that matter, hiring warring tribes of headhunters as extras.

It works.

The story is set in the late 19th century when rubber (and robber!) barons created great wealth in the remote jungles of South America, built on the monopoly of the rubber plant. We moderns know that this artificially created civilisation will soon collapse, when the plant is smuggled out; so what better setting than these ephemeral cities of gold and palaces of opulence to tell this tale of man's capacity to dream?

Here is a world where elegance mingles with crudity. In one scene, a millionare, proud of his collection of rare carps, tosses them them large bills, while he jokes in front of an impoverished Fitzcarraldo about how fond the fish are of the taste of money.

Fitzcarraldo has a passion for opera. If the viewer does not share this, the film can still makes sense, provided the viewer has a passion for SOMETHING. If not, forget it. It'll be incomprehensible to anyone without blood in his veins. Just the story of a nut.

Not that Fitzcarraldo is not er . . .speculative in his business schemes. When he announces to his lover, a successful brothel keeper, (Claudia Cardinale) " I have an idea! " She responds with: " Oh, no! Not another one! "

But she bankrolls him, nevertheless. Now all he has to do is--well, as Einstein once eloquently said, to achieve the impossible, we must attempt the absurd.

Caruso on the Amazon!
It seems almost ridiculous to add yet another praise-filled review to the heaps already expressed here, but such a consummate piece of art like, 'Fitzcarraldo,' deserves the most it can get. Since others have brilliantly summarized the plot, I'll concentrate instead on why one should 'treasure' the three perfect hours of this film.

Rare is the film nowadays that says so much with so little. Dialogue is used very sparingly throughout Fitzcarraldo, but that's all the better, for Kinski's Fitzcarraldo doesn't need words to express his dream. Every close-up of that intense face tells more than two hours of annoying chatter ever could. With his sharp features, searing gaze and untamed mane, Kinski is indeed Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald. A man possessed by his dream, by his mission to bring one of the most delectable of human creations, opera, to the 'wilds.' I agree most wholeheartedly with that reviewer who mentionned the role of Kinski's hair. It indeed has a life of its own and it mesmerizes the viewer. Like the antennae of Fitz's spirit, it stiffens in determination to see his passion come to bear, and then flys off his head, when the dream is realized. Every single second of this masterpiece is artfully necessary. Every stony gaze from the Indians, every sweeping shot of the misty jungle fits perfectly into place, creating a mosaic of colossal proportions. The scenes of the boat being painfully nudged over the hill mirror the struggle of creation itself. Or my favorite: when the Indians board the boat and meet Fitz for the first time. Herzog closes-up on how the chief gently touches, then rubs Fitz's palm. Two minutes that cast us into eternity. What could it mean? A symbol of our underlying brotherhood, a first 'clash' between 'the civilized' and 'the wild?' I don't even pretend to know, nor do I particularly care, for the soothing, almost sensual warmth of the scene brings that inner peace that all great art should.

Ponderous? Deliberate? Yes and rightly so. Good things, great things, whether they be an exquisite meal, passionate lovemaking or the creation of a masterpiece, take their own time, irregardless of the frantic chaos that surrounds them. Fitzcarraldo is one such 'time-less' experience. Dive in and revel in its every breathtaking second!

Not only does this film enrichen our senses, it strengthens our hearts. Fitz instructs us on we should pursue our dreams. With relentless faith. Believe and yes, we can move mountains! And move our weighty burdens over them as well. Yes, they are painstaking and for every inch gained, we lose two more. Yes, there are casualties. For ourselves and for others. And yes, nobody believes you can really pull it off, but in the end, you shall have your vindication as did Fitz. Caruso on the Amazon? Watch and believe!

Towering!!
What can one say about this unique film experience. Herzog takes the viewer along for the great "ride" and we must pay attention.

The love of opera here is manifest in a way that is so compulsive and thereby so compelling that we have to take breaths often during this film.

All you F(x) experts can stay home and ponder your next bit of software on your bland and insufferable computers which dole out dreams as emotional as Hexadecimal!! Everything you see here is real and the passion of the vision is evident with Mr Kinski giving one of his Dr. Pretarious performances.

Hollywood bean counters and executives beware..This is a real film, this is cinema not the pap you have been shoveling the last 24 years. Finally, I would like to quote a,line by Paul Scofield in " The Train" to Burt Lancaster...and transpose the thought to those same hollywood bean counters " Letting you look at this film is like showing a " String of Pearls to an Ape"!

Fitzcarraldo a Rare film experience

Obscure history, writ large
Among the things that distinguish Werner Herzog as a film-maker are two qualities that he shares with William Shakespeare: he knows the human heart better than most dramatists, and he never lets the facts get in the way of telling a good story.

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called "Fitzcarraldo" by the natives) was a real guy, who really loved opera, and really did drag a ship over a piece of land to get it from one part of a South American river to another. He did it to bring opera to middle of the jungle. That's history. What drove this guy to do such a frankly outrageous thing in the name of art? What kind of fever siezes a visionary and brings him to the brink of insanity to attempt such a thing? That's the stuff of drama. Herzog knows the difference, and his choices in bringing the story to the screen were flawless.

Fitzcarraldo, like all of Herzong's films (even Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht), uses the theme of cultural clash as a macrocosm of the conflicted human mind. So what if the real boat was much smaller than the one in the film? Who cares if the real act of dragging it across land - though arduous - was not nearly so grand as the film depicts? The resultant images are what count, and they would not have the stunning effect Herzog pulls off in this film were it more "historically accurate".

All film directors do things for effect. What separates the good ones from the great is their reason. The once-great Frances Ford Coppola seems to be aiming for empty aesthetics with his last few films; Herzog wants nothing less than to illuminate the soul. It's a grand, quixotic goal; prone to failure - much like dragging a boat through the jungle. But he seems to pull it off time and time again. You remember the images, yes - they're hard to forget. But you also remember the passion of the characters - their desparate dreams, wild fantasies, great achievements, and devastating failures.

Klaus Kinski perfectly embodies the obsessive madness of the title character - albeit in a far less sinister way than in Aguirre: The Wrath of God. His performance is no less brilliant. Claudia Cardinale plays his love interest, the kind of woman whose heart every visionary dreams of winning.

In most treatments of this kind of story, one would expect things to end badly. They do for Fitz, but somehow it does not matter. He finds grace and dignity in the struggle, rather than the outcome. He is a brighter vision of Don Quixote, and the feeling of surviving his ordeal is, miraculously, more like that of triumph than defeat. Fitzcarraldo ends in exuberance rather than despair. How can a man lose everything and still raise his head so high, as Kinski does in the last scene?

Without a hint of sappy, artificial feel-good-ism, Herzog has pulled off one of the most authentically moving surprise happy endings in recent cinema.

Failure never looked so good! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

MAD MAD MAD...MAD
I can't believe I hadn't seen or even heard about this insanely maniacal film for so many years. Although I've seen some of Herzog's later work with mixed reactions, EVEN DWARFS has made an undeniable and indelible mark on my brain. I thought it was going to be some stupid midget comedy (ala "Terror of Tiny Town"), but instead it's a raw, disturbing nightmare of a world gone mad....and every actor in it is a midget (or "little person"). Don't expect "Wizard of Oz" here, folks.... there are many stark images and an increasingly ominous mood throughout. Coupled with some scenes of mild animal abuse, you may want to keep your "little people" from watching this one. However, even with the sense of dread and psychosis, there is plenty of humor generated throughout from the cast of midgets who obviously gave their all. And Herzog's "real life" approach to filming makes his characters even more real -- they may look at the camera or react in real terror or laugh --- it's almost like Herzog has pulled us as viewers into his celluloid nightmare and we find ourselves reacting the same way as some of his cast are to the surrounding events. This is ultra-cinema.

Anchor Bay's DVD has a very enlightening commentary track by Herzog who clears up that the camel's knee ligaments were not severed for the film (the camel was not hurt in any way) and talks about how one of the midgets got run over and caught on fire during the shooting (he lived). He speaks about how stupid chickens are, too, and after you see the mouse scene with the stupid chicken walking back and forth a million times, you'll agree. Crazy actor Crispin Glover is also on the commentary track because apparently he was inspired by Herzog's film to make his own related upcoming "dwarfs" film (I can't wait).

EVEN DWARFS may not be for all tastes (if you find stuff like "Forrest Gump" entertaining - skip this one!). But, if you are MAD MAD MAD and like stuff like "Eraserhead" and "Gummo" - then check out these mad midgets. "Hehehehehehehheheehehehe"....

incredible film
werner herzog is a difficult director and he doesn't let the audience off easy. while a film like 'aguirre' is enjoyable on a surface level films like 'dwarves' require further thought. when i first saw this film i wasn't really into it but after listening to the commentary, seeing a few more of herzog's films and reading a book about him i appreciate what he is doing. the images and ideas that werner herzog commits to film are from a special place and anyone who has heard of the fantastic stories surrounding the production of a film like "fitzcaraldo" can see herzog's devotion to his art. in a profession filled with creativity and eccentricity herzog towers above all as a true oddity. this reputation has resulted in his ability to make films that are far from digestible for over 30 years. his talent and powerful personality make him worthy of attention and appreciation.

Genius
There is nothing I love more than a dwarf, after he has simply torn his world to pieces, laughing at a defecating camel for five minutes and then coughing because he laughed too hard.

Did you know? Werner Herzog promised that at the end of the film he would jump into some cactus to show that he understood the pain he was subjecting the cast to. He did this.

VERY strange indeed
This is a very, very, very bizarre film indeed, there is not much I can add to that, it is funny( but, should it be? ) and it's very different to anything out there, if you want to enjoy an easier film with more dwarves than you have ever seen, running riot then watch "Under The Rainbow" !
But it is a very interesting film to say the least.

bravo!!! 5 stars all the way
This one is a keeper . . . a warm, family movie for those cold wintery nights when your extended family is staying over for the holidays. This and a few 30 packs of Natural Ice Lights makes for great family fun. ... Read more

Reviews (82)

Werner Herzog creates the ultimate vampire.
Nosferatu was originally a German expressionist film, much in the style of "The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari. Moody, extremley gothic, and very scary, shot in Germany in 1922. Max Schreck played the part of Nosferatu, aka Count Orlok, the ugliest, scariest Dracula in cinematic history. Orlak is tall and skinny, shriveled, actually, with elongated limbs, and long, sharp claws for hands. He is ancient as well. We have no leading man type here, a la Christopher Lee, who was actually a sex symbol back in the late sixties, or handsome Bela, Frank Langella, or more recently, Gary Oldman. Orlak is the combination of an evil old man, mixed with a rodent. His ears are batlike, his eyes, wide and scary, a beak nose, and his full lips hide long, ratlike fangs. He is bald as well. Klaus Kinski captured Nosferatu to a tee, although Klaus is well, flat out not as ugly as Schrek. the story is virtually Dracula retold, including Harker's trip to Transylvania, the Count buying Real Estate, the Count lusting after Lucy, and Lucy's sacrifice. There is a hidden eroticism in the final scene with Lucy that must be seen to be believed. Lucy, by the way, is portrayed by the ever sexy Isabelle Adjani, and she portays a perfect damsel in distress, who knows what she must do. The contrast in Lucy's beauty, compared to Orlak's hideous repulsiveness, only adds to the erotic chemistry that is on the screen during their scenes together, especially when Lucy is first confronted by the lustful old vampire, and he demands her love. During the famous, final scene, we see Orlak consumate his vampiric love, in full detail. Lucy almost seems to be enjoying it. Orlak must have Lucy, even if it means that his very existance is the price to be paid, so he enjoys his night of bloodlust, and lovemaking to the fullest. The movie is atmospheric, and well acted throughout, although the Van Helsing character seems a bit powerless. Then again, aside from Lucy's sacrificial beauty, what can stop the evil Count Orlak.....Highly recommended.

Cerebral, dream-like horror
Nosferatu unfolds like a languorous, disturbing dream. The images have an hallucinogenic, archetypal quality: mummified human remains in an ancient tomb; the figure of a woman sitting on a beach studded with tombstones; a dead sea-captain lashed to the wheel of a deserted sailing ship.

Like Kubrick's The Shining, Nosferatu is less a standard genre film than a singular expression of a filmmaker's vision. Writer-director Werner Herzog began with F.W. Murnau's expressionist classic, mixed in elements from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, then set about creating a meditation on the vampire myth. What would it really mean to live forever, and be compelled to feed on the blood of others? What of the unspeakable boredom? The longing for companionship? For normalcy? For death? As played by Klaus Kinski, Herzog's Dracula has spent hundreds, if not thousands of years alone with these thoughts. He is the ultimate poster boy for German angst. If not for the skill of his performance and Herzog's direction, he might have lapsed into self-parody.

There are shots that all but reproduce moments from the silent classic - right down to the overwrought body language. But Herzog, Kinski, and the rest of the cast (including Bruno Ganz as Jonathon Harker and Isabelle Adjani as his wife Lucy) keep it in check and keep it beautifully stylized, so it all works.

Probably due to the involvement of American studio 20th-Century Fox, Nosferatu was shot in both English and German versions. Both are on this double-sided DVD; comparing them is instructive, since there are non-trivial differences in the visual construction of both films. Most critics agree (and I concur) that the German one is superior.

Finally, to get an idea of whether you will like this - or any - Werner Herzog film, take the Armageddon-Matrix test: if you hated Armageddon because it was empty and overblown, but kind of liked The Matrix because of its ideas, then you may like Nosferatu. If, on the other hand, you thought Armageddon rocked, but only kind of liked The Matrix because it was slow in places, then don't even think about it.

Good remake!
Remakes don't get much better that this, lets give a round of applause to the drictor, it's hard to make a remake of a classic film. So the film follows the story of the orignal, some guy goes to see Dracula, who he later bits( the guy goes crazy). Dracula later takes a ship to England and starts a rampage of death. This film does not have as much action as the first but it's still fun to wach. Make-up for Dracula rocked. Worth every penny.

The Classic Art-House Version of Dracula
For our second outing between Kinski and Herzog we find that the director has chosen to remake, or rather retell, his favorite film of all time - 'Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens' by F.W. Murnau (1922), while at the same time adapting more of the original Stoker novel into the remake, using the original name of Count Dracula (Kinski) instead of Orlok and injecting his own take on the story of Dracula (in German), which for all intensive purposes is a story about 'tragedy' and Herzog has correctly identified this main theme that would help levitate this entry to one of the all time great art-house horror films with images of Kinski's vampire often filling many film magazine pages and posters. In fact, it is Herzog's most commercial and accessible film to date. It was this telling of the Dracula story that influenced Coppola to remake the Stoker novel entirely into a film. It was not the first time Coppola had been influenced by Herzog. Coppola learned from Kinski and Herzog in "Aguirre: Wraith of God" that guerilla film making while going up a jungle river would be just what he needed for his version of Conrad's "Hearts of Darkness" (Apocalypse Now).

The usual Kinski/Herzog display of frustration is more subtle in this film than all the others probably because the beautiful Isabelle Adjani keeps Kinski distracted long enough for him not get angry with Herzog's cruel daily shoots to 'get it right' and deliberately making the actors and actresses angry for their performances. Here everyone just looks deathly sick and move