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Burden of Dreams

Play trailer Poster for Burden of Dreams 1982 1h 35m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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91% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 91% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
German director Werner Herzog begins work on his 1982 epic "Fitzcarraldo" but soon runs into serious setbacks, from casting problems to his own stubborn refusal to use special effects. After having to reshoot much of the film because the lead actor was recast, his crew must then haul an old-fashioned steamboat over a mountain using manpower alone. With a resolve bordering on insanity, Herzog struggles to realize his vision, vowing to see the film completed -- even if it leads to his undoing.
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Burden of Dreams

Critics Reviews

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Derek Smith Slant Magazine Nov 16
Burden of Dreams attests to Les Blank’s egalitarian approach to documentation. Go to Full Review
Kevin Maher The Times (UK) May 23
4/5
[A] gruelling and engrossing Fitzcarraldo backstory. Go to Full Review
Peter Bradshaw Guardian May 21
4/5
Amazingly, Herzog always looks in pretty good shape, considering what he’s gone through, and put others through. His burden of dreams is borne with some style. It’s a good curtain-raiser to the film itself. Go to Full Review
Chance Solem-Pfeifer Willamette Week Jan 22
Blank’s brilliance lies in watchful matter-of-factness, highlighted by Candace Laughlin’s sporadic narration, as Herzog and his crew try—among many self-imposed misadventures—to pull a 300-ton steamship overland through the Amazon rainforest. Go to Full Review
Dennis Harvey 48 Hills 06/07/2024
It is the rare “making-of” document that many consider better than the completed project itself. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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ArtystaPisarz P 04/26/2024 From what I heard about the troubled production of “Fitzcarraldo”, this documentary doesn’t cover even half of it, which seems incredulous, as it covers such a large amount of crazy stories of film-making brave-to-a-fault that it can make your head spin and go dizzy. This is a necessary companion movie to Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo” and may even convince its viewers that somehow the insane story of how this epic movie was made is even more interesting and improbable than the plot of the movie itself. Still, it is a very old-fashioned documentary, as I feel it, with a seemingly omniscient narrator that is so rare in the current movies of this genre. So, though I quite enjoyed “Burden of Dreams”, I cannot but feel that there is even more material here. Maybe someone should make a non-documentary movie about how “Fitzcarraldo” was made? That would certainly be a stranger-than-fiction film I would want to watch! See more dave s 01/22/2023 Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo was a film about, among other things, the will of the human spirit. Burden of Dreams, Les Blank's documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo, is about, ironically enough, the will of the human spirit. The central story thread of Herzog's film is the main character's obsession with physically carrying a large steamboat over land to an adjacent river. The documentary focuses primarily on Herzog's actual attempt to film a cast of hundreds actually transporting the boat over a mountain pass. It's all pretty riveting stuff, but one can't help but think that Herzog himself was responsible for the majority of the misfortunes experienced while making the original movie, his own ego being the cause of his grief. While it's unfortunate that more time wasn't spent with his infamously prickly star Klaus Kinski, it remains a fascinating examination of artistic passion and the madness that often comes with creativity. See more georgan g 07/27/2022 Not very impressed. In fact, maybe I've just seen too many Herzog movies & watched the supplemental material. Whatever the cause I didn't learn anything new about Herzog. See more 02/26/2021 It was an astounding film and this documentary shows just how ludicrous a directorial effort this was. How Herzog persevered and achieved this picture is beyond me. Can't have been many films as difficult to pull off as this. See more @MilloTPue 09/22/2020 The conclussion of the documentary (as twisted as one of Herzog's movies) is that Herzog is as crazy as Fitzcarraldo and tried the same thing. See more david f 08/25/2020 The story of the making of Fitzcarraldo is fascinating and even more bonkers that Fitzcarraldo. See more Read all reviews
Burden of Dreams

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Movie Info

Synopsis German director Werner Herzog begins work on his 1982 epic "Fitzcarraldo" but soon runs into serious setbacks, from casting problems to his own stubborn refusal to use special effects. After having to reshoot much of the film because the lead actor was recast, his crew must then haul an old-fashioned steamboat over a mountain using manpower alone. With a resolve bordering on insanity, Herzog struggles to realize his vision, vowing to see the film completed -- even if it leads to his undoing.
Director
Les Blank
Producer
Les Blank
Screenwriter
Michael Goodwin
Distributor
Flower Films
Production Co
Flower Films
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 30, 1982, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jul 19, 2024
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 8, 2017
Runtime
1h 35m
Sound Mix
Mono
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