subscribe to this pageCall#: Van Pelt Library HD9161.B82 W44 1983
In the chapter entitled, “Tappers and Traders,” Barbara Weinstein gives an overview of the Amazon rubber economy during the rubber boom around the turn of the century, while the book focuses on Brazil, the same methods were used in Peru. For a variety of natural causes, rubber trees grow very far apart naturally. Thus, in the extractive stage of rubber production, huge amounts of land were needed. Typically the estate owner would lease trails through the jungle to individual tappers. The tapper would then collect rubber from a number of trees, and sell the collection to the owner for roughly 50% of the market value of rubber. The rubber would sometimes change hands six times before being sold to consumers, hence the small fraction of the actual value the tapper received. The estate owner would sell the collected rubber to either an local intermediary who collected from a number of owners to then transport to Manaus or Belem, or if an estate had a river dock the owner would transport rubber directly to a major city like Manaus. Generally establishing a plantation involved little capital, and the money to be made during the boom helped offset any risk.
This overview of the rubber economy helps contextualize Fitzcarraldo. By understanding the ways in which rubber was extracted, one can see why Fitzcarraldo needed such a huge tract of land. Additionally, in the film, most of the loan he takes goes to financing the ship. Because of the importance of transporting rubber, and the lack of any intermediaries in the area he was exploring, the motivation for moving the ship over the mountain becomes more evident. Without a means of transport, extracting rubber would prove to be fruitless. Fitzcarraldo seeks to establish his own company that would own the land and then transport the rubber a market. In doing so, he could maximize his profit by selling the rubber at the fair market value.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1993.5.G3 H28 2008
By looking at the broader social and film environment that formed the films of Herzog, one has a better idea of the external influences on his work. While Herzog often speaks of the value of solitude and the individual, he did not work in a vacuum. In understanding his work as an example of the progress of the West German state, his work takes on a new meaning, indirectly exemplary of the Cold War. His films transcend much of the political divide, rarely depicting a split Germany. Fitzcarraldo particularly depicts the internationalism that the author associates with New German Cinema. The mix of characters from several nations – Fitzcarraldo is Irish, the boat captain is Dutch, the crew consists of native Peruvians – indicates an ability to move beyond both the domestic politics that characterized many films in the 60s and the ability to move beyond the international politics so turbulent during the Cold War.
This essay discusses the documentary Burden of Dreams, which follows the four-year long production of Fitzcarraldo. Arthur argues that the film acts as a counterweight to Herzog’s fanatical view of the world. For example when Herzog obsesses over the “obscenity” of the jungle, Blank cuts to beautiful images of the natural state of the jungle. The essay also offers insights into the production of the film, involving total isolation of the crew in the Amazon, sending a riverboat he used down a series of rapids with the crew onboard, and the use of large numbers of local tribesmen. Lastly, the paper touches on how the filming of the movie in many ways paralleled the story being filmed.
In watching Fitzcarraldo and hearing Herzog’s perspective, one often loses track of exactly how outrageous of feat the filming of the movie actually was. The paper hints at but never fully explains the irony in the fact that Fitzcarraldo tells the story of a crazed European adventurer who goes into the Peruvian Amazon to accomplish a monumental feat, and Herzog, also crazed European adventurer, does precisely the same thing in order to film the movie. The paper does seem, however, to degrade Fitzcarraldo, making it seem almost like an adventurous folly whose greatest achievement was the production of Burden of Dreams. While the latter may be a superb, even revolutionary documentary, Fitzcarraldo remains an incredible cinematic achievement unworthy of the negative tone Arthur takes towards it.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN2658.K52 A3 1996
Anything that Klaus Kinski has written on the subject of this production cannot be taken as fact. His autobiography, written like a diary, offers an insight into the mind of this brilliant but deranged actor. In reading his account of the production, one can gain a better sense of what working with the man on a daily basis would have been like. He sees himself as far more brilliant than anyone involved on the production. In contrasting this account with more reputable sources, one can pick out certain cases in which Kinski outright lied, such as when he claims he rejected the part, then Herzog realized he couldn’t film the movie without him. In reality, the actor Kinski won’t name, Jason Robards, had to leave because of medical issues. In reading Kinski’s account, the entire fact that Herzog moved a boat over a mountain is curiously absent, yet he devotes a substantial amount of time to complaints about the food. The four pages offer an incredible insight into the true egomaniacal nature of the man.
Call#: Van Pelt Library F3431 .K53 2000
In looking at social structures at the time, one finds that the oligarchical system of government in Lima parallels the emergence of a class of wealthy rubber barons that Herzog portrays in Fitzcarraldo. The rubber boom, while separated from the rest of the economy falls into a period of growth in Peru, making the growth in the Amazon similar to that of the rest of the county. By knowing the rest of the political and economic climate of turn of the century Peru, one can understand why so many foreigners had come to be in Peru at the time. One can also better understand why the fictional Fitzcarraldo stayed in Peru after the failure of his railroad. Lastly the perpetuation of the myth of an Amazonian El Dorado likely influenced Herzog in his decision to film there, particularly in his earlier film Aguirre.
Call#: Van Pelt Library F2230.1.R3 R47 1988
While this is the example of only one tribe’s values, other tribes regard them as antiquated, indicating these values apply broadly to Amazon tribes. Thus one could use the Waura people as a way to understand the mindset of the tribesmen in Fitzcarraldo. When one looks at the attitudes of the tribe, they conflict in almost every way possible with those of Klaus Kinski and to a lesser degree Herzog. Thus, while watching the film, one can regard the tribesmen slightly differently when interacting with Kinski on screen. They would view him as a lesser human and would be very disturbed by any sort of explosive actions on his part. While most of Kinski’s wildest outbursts took place off screen, the apprehension of the natives in approaching him sometimes can be better understood in the context of what took place right before the action on screen begins. It may be little wonder why the natives offered to kill Kinski as a kind gesture to Herzog by the end of the shoot.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HD9161.B8 P3
Chapter XIX from this 1911 book gives an account of rubber production in Peru, written during the period of the rubber boom. Given the time, one can assume this chapter was written as a guide for those interested in entering the rubber business in Peru. As rubber became a very profitable export, Iquitos grew very quickly and foreign companies quickly began to build roads to facilitate access to the city. The text mentions that for two years around 1902, an English steamboat company had a monopoly on rubber export using boats specially built for the area. It lasted until direct shipments from Iquitos to New York and Liverpool began. At the time, several tribes had settled and would “wage relentless warfare against the wholly savage tribes,” capturing them and teaching them to work as rubber laborers. The chapter gives an overview of the extraction techniques and types of rubber. Lastly, the author gives an overview of the legal issues in securing land from the government, including that the government allows land contracts to go into effect only after a surveyor has viewed the land.
This source is rather unique in that it acts as a primary source for the rubber boom in Peru. By looking at a guide to Amazonian rubber at the time, one can better understand the mindset of the characters that inspired the movie. The section on legalities indicates that the entire purpose behind Fitzcarraldo’s journey has a historical basis rather than existing solely as a creation of Herzog’s to make a more coherent plot. The discussion of Iquitos allows one to better understand the setting of the film. The town was just on the brink of a population explosion during the period in which the film takes place. Watching the film, one can understand that most of the wealth in the town has just emerged. As Fitzcarraldo explores the land in the film, he contributes to only the earliest stages of the rubber boom, and while somewhat apparent in the film, one understands this far more upon reading this account written a little over a decade of the movie’s setting.
Kael, Pauline. "The Current Cinema." The New Yorker, 18 October 1982, 173-178.
This extremely critical review of Fitzcarraldo offers an insight into the production of the film, historical context, and mindset of Herzog. After praising Aguirre the Wrath of God, Pauline Kael gives the historical inspiration for the film. An Irishman, Fitzcarrald, who made a fortune in the Peruvian rubber trade made hundreds of natives disassemble a small boat and carry it from one river to another. In contrast to the film character, the real life he had already made a fortune and had no desire to build an opera house. Herzog then took this story, multiplied the size of the ship by ten, used a mountain twice as steep, and decided to not disassemble his ship. He did elect to use several hundred native Amazonians. Additionally, Kael mentions the inspiration of the ruins at Carnac on Herzog’s decision to move the ship. She then argues that film relies on illusions, which Herzog ignored in the production of Fitzcarraldo. To Herzog, using sets and models would have made the picture look fake, but Kael argues special effects can create a convincing picture without endangering the lives of everyone involved. She also notes that Herzog sees the making of a film as a challenge for all involved, seeing it as a curse. He views the fatalities that occurred on the set as a setback, all in the name of filmmaking and great art.
This review helps one to understand the mindset of Herzog going into Fitzcarraldo and the creative liberties he took in using historical facts. By contrasting the actual rubber baron with Kinski’s character, one sees how Herzog made the character more interesting. Whereas the actual person sought only financial gain, the film character seeks to build an opera house modeled after that of Manaus. The moving of the ship over the mountain gives the character a new dimension of determination, with the ultimate goal of creating great art, an opera house. Herzog’s characters often have desires to accomplish incredible feats, not unlike himself. His fanaticism in risking peoples’ lives to make a movie poses a great moral question, particularly given his disgust at the exploitation of Amazonian Natives over the years. While Kael sees the ordeal of Fitzcarraldo’s production as unnecessary, it still remains a remarkable feat.
This article attempts to describe the mindset of Werner Herzog. Written in 1977, it describes briefly his childhood being raised by his mother in rural Bavaria and then Munich. It describes some of his most unusual encounters, including flying to Guadeloupe to film a documentary about an impending volcano eruption, stealing monkeys from a South American airport while posing as a health inspector, and threatening the Greek army with firearms when they tried to stop the filming of a scene. Later, the paper equates both his films and life to “one continual struggle to overcome obstacles he himself alone sees, has created, or puts in the way of his films’ heroes.” For Herzog, he has no distinct professional or personal life. Starting out he worked in a factory to finance his first shorts rather than seek out funding from a producer. Each film shows a world of “despair and destruction” with a character who suffers throughout the film, failing in their given goal. Later, the author discusses how Herzog is willing to risk death in order to capture a story he sees necessary, as in the case of the volcano documentary, La Soufriere. Additionally, Herzog’s eccentric feats don’t limit themselves to the realm of filmmaking such as when he walked from Munich to Paris in the winter without a camera crew.
In examining in greater detail the personality of Werner Herzog, one begins to see the pattern of his radical commitment to film. While Fitzcarraldo perhaps marks the height of his creating enormous obstacles to overcome, the film marks a continuation of earlier exploits. By looking at his personality, his films appear to be an extension of himself. In all aspects of his life he seeks to accomplish extraordinary things, and his passion for filmmaking allows him to capture that to share with the world.
This New York Times feature of Fitzcarraldo offers Herzog’s perspective on the production of the film. He claims that if there had been a jungle with two rivers and a mountain in Central Park he would have been happy to film there instead of remote areas of Peru. He denies that he intentionally seeks obstructions and dangers when filming, only doing what he sees necessary to produce the film. In describing the historical Fitzcarrald, he states, “It's the stupid, uninteresting story of a man who exploited a vast area.” Herzog saw the boat scene as far more than just moving the vessel over a mountain. It was a symbol of a clash of cultures and a clash of dreams. He justified the choice to film the scene as he did in saying “so many rich details that you never thought of beforehand, there is so much more than you can imagine, that what the film gains in texture rewards your toil a hundred times.”
Multiple sources in this project criticize Herzog for the decision to force so many people to endure the conditions necessary for this film and question the necessity of actually moving the boat over the mountain. This interview-heavy feature allows Herzog to rebut the criticism. The piece shows that Herzog is not quite the nutcase filmmaker that some see him to be. He has a deep commitment to making the movie exactly as he sees fit. The direct quotations also provide an example of Herzog’s conversational style. When he bluntly calls the story of the original rubber baron “stupid,” one can therefore infer that he sees the story of the exploration and seeking to establish a rubber plantation as relatively unimportant in the film. The moving of the boat over the mountain appears to be the greatest part for him, along with most other viewers. Additionally, the shaping of the fictional character demonstrates the huge importance of opera in understanding the character of Fitzcarraldo.