MovieChat Forums > Fitzcarraldo (1982) Discussion > Insane!

Insane!

posted 4 years ago by Ed (527)
5 replies | jump to latest

The lead actor is insane! Not just in this film. i’ve read that the natives wanted to kill him, they hated him so much!

The director, clearly insane, too. Who makes a movie based on a real man who transported a steamship out of water and over a mountain, and then actually recreates that very feat for the film? At least in real life, they took the boat apart first, but the film? No! They literally dragged the whole boat over. Unreal! No CGI here, folks, it’s all real. And madness,

The production had a lot of woes, too. Read about it, lots of fun there. Certainly enough to drive people insane, but Kinski and Herzog made it through okay because they were already insane to begin with and continued to make great films after this.

Compare to Apocalypse Now, which broke Coppola completely. He was never the same director again...

[–] Wuchak (8835) 4 years ago

It's a great film and superior to the director's previous Amazon jungle flick "Aguirre, the Wrath of God."

[–] Otter (24464) 4 years ago

Definitely one of those films that is stunning when seen for the first time... and you don't want to see again because of the miasma of crazy.

[–] brux (14773) 4 years ago

This was a terrible movie.
I saw it when it came out and I could not stand it.
I wondered why this got so much good reaction?
Somehow Werner Herzog could show security cam footage
and get good reviews, but I think only about 1 out of 10 of
his movies are good, but those that are good are actually
pretty good.

[–] Ed (527) 4 years ago

I prefer Nosferatu, myself, although it may be rather slow for most folks. I wouldn’t call it a scary film, just an eerie one.

Aguirre was a good film, too. I liked that descent into madness and the very downbeat ending. Man vs. nature, nature wins.

Fitzcarraldo took about an hour to get into gear. Things were dull until the boat showed up. Man vs. nature, man wins! Then, man backstabbed by man, ha ha....

[–] brux (14773) 4 years ago

I can't think of any movie movie by Herzog that I can stand let along like, but I do like most of his documentaries. I particular disliked "Rescue Dawn" which should have been good. "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams" was good, and the documentary about Antarctica was very interesting too.