Fitzcarraldo

1982

2h 37m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

812

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3 Videos

56 Images

Drama

Adventure

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Directors

Werner Herzog

Writers

Werner Herzog(screenplay by)

Stars

Klaus Kinski

Claudia Cardinale

José Lewgoy

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Videos3

Photos56

Top cast

Fitzcarraldo

Molly

Don Aquilino

Cholo

Orinoco Paul

Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez

Huerequeque

Station Master

Opera Manager

Campa Chief

Opera House Blackman

Rubber Baron

Old Missionary

Young Missionary

Notary

Opera 'Ernani' - Ernani (voice)

Costante Moret

Opera 'Ernani' - Ernani

Dimiter Petkov

Opera 'Ernani' - Silva

Directors

Werner Herzog

Writers

Werner Herzog(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews2

Review

Featured review

7/10

Klaus Kinski is great as the eponymous, slightly maniacal, opera lover who decides that his love of Verdi, Bellini and Puccini needs to be shared with his mid-jungle community. He realises that to do that, he must have cash - and that's only to be found if he can manage to tap into the rubber trees deep into the Amazon. To that end, he and local hostess "Molly" (the sparingly featured Claudia Cardinale) manage to scrape together enough cash to buy a dilapidated old steamer from local grandee "Don Aquilino" (José Lewgoy) and he sets off into uncharted waters with a skeleton collection of untrustworthies into the realm of rapids, insects and hostiles. There's a snag to his cunning plan, though. The area he wishes to exploit is all but inaccessible and he is going to have to figure out some considerable engineering legerdemain if he is to achieve his goal. Fortunately, along the way, they encounter some locals who have a legend that a yellow-haired man would come from their gods and - well anyway, he fits that bill and they agree to help him get the boat uphill - literally - from one river to another. Can they keep their superstitious new allies and their fairly fickle crew on side long enough to succeed and then make it back to what passes for civilisation? Now it does have to be said that some of the continuity here puts John Wayne's watch to shame, but given it was filmed in Peru and on the Amazon itself, this is an astonishingly accomplished piece of film making that really does immerse us in not just the struggle itself but in the character of a man who treads the paths between lucidly, ingenuity and insanity adeptly. It is a little too long, there are too many scenes that add little to the pace of the film, but Kinski and Herzog thrive in this hot and humid climate to deliver an entertaining and exciting travelogue the likes of which you'll never see anywhere else!

Geronimo196726 Jan, 2024