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.
Direction
Herzog's real-life obsession mirrors Fitzcarraldo's perfectly.
Practical Effects
That mountain haul is cinema's most unhinged practical effect.
Acting
Kinski's unhinged eyes contain multitudes of madness.
Director
Werner Herzog
Klaus Kinski
Fitzcarraldo
Claudia Cardinale
Molly
José Lewgoy
Don Aquilino
Miguel Ángel Fuentes
Cholo
Paul Hittscher
Orinoco Paul
Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez
Huerequeque
Grande Otelo
Station Master
Peter Berling
Opera Manager
David Pérez Espinosa
Campa Chief
Milton Nascimento
Opera House Blackman
Ruy Polanah
Rubber Baron
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Herzog refused to use models or effects. The 320-ton boat was genuinely hauled up a 40-degree slope using a complex pulley system. Two men died during production.
DE
