Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams captures legendary director Werner Herzog’s filming of his most ambitious film Fitzcarraldo, in which an entrepreneur (Klaus Kinski) endeavors to push a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle, one thousand miles away from civilization.

Featuring visceral interviews with Herzog, Burden of Dreams which was held by Roger Ebert as “one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made about the making of a movie” depicts the full range of Herzog’s unflinching vision spanning four years of production, despite all odds, such as the lead actor (Jason Robards) who had to leave the set after 40% of the shoot was completed and ultimately was replaced by Herzog’s muse, Klaus Kinski. Most notoriously, the film features a jaw-dropping sequence featuring Herzog requiring hundreds of native Campa, Machiguenga, and Aguaruna people to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain.