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Burden of Dreams

  • Werner Herzog Retrospective: Signs of Life
  • Director: Les Blank

  • Language: English with Italian Subtitles

  • Year of production: 1982

  • Lenght: 95'

  • Country: Usa, West Germany

  • Cast: Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Mick Jagger

Burden of Dreams by Les Blank
Burden of Dreams by Les Blank

Amazon rainforest, 1979: on the set of Fitzcarraldo (starring Klaus Kinski, the white adventurer who wants to build an opera house in the middle of the forest to bring Leoncavallo's Pagliacci to the city), the crew faces an endless series of insurmountable difficulties, during a production that lasts approximately four years.

Technical and bureaucratic hurdles, resounding strokes of bad luck, such as the departures of the first two leads, Jason Robards and Mick Jagger (two scenes survive from an early version of the film that made it almost halfway through production). But also problems due to the political climate of the time and the clash of cultures and distant perceptions of time and existence: local Indians and white Europeans, bare and dyed skins, arrows plucked by hand for fun, chewed alcoholic beverages on one side and designer clothing, canned food and gasoline engines on the other.