Tom McGee's Blog

The story of the making of the movie “Fitzcarraldo” is parallel to the plot of the film itself: a madman is seized by a vision — to haul a steamship over a mountain to the river on the other side. Werner Herzog had the idea, and to bring it to life on film he couldn’t use models, special effects, easy locations. It had to be done with a real ship, over a real mountain, in a real South American jungle.

His diary, “The Conquest of the Useless,” consists of entries made during the making of the film through 1980-1, sometimes made on scraps of paper so small he needed a magnifying glass. Working with impossible preening actors, less-than-reliable natives, a government on the edge of revolution, not to mention the pitiless jungle himself, he found a way to get it done.

The writing at times made me laugh out loud in a Mike Myers “Sprockets” kind of way. I can only imagine what it was like to spend a couple of years there, but Dieter’s “it’s repellent, yet I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame” is pretty indicative of Herzog’s attitude toward the rain forest, where “even plastic rots.” The ants, the humidity, the crocodiles, the rain. The cycle of decay and growth becomes a metaphor for something, though who knows what. Just as he is asked at one point what the movie is a metaphor of: he has no answer, though I suspect it’s a metaphor for itself.

Along the way are little gems on the people involved. Mick Jagger’s tireless taxiing of crew from the airport cross-country to the location (while Jason Robards was afraid to leave his room). Klaus Kinski’s outrageous hours-long temper tantrums over trivialities (some of the natives asked in all earnestness whether he wanted them to kill him). Claudia Cardinale’s classy patience, all anchored by Herzog’s teutonic fatalism. A sharp observer of the natural world, his stylish writing gives a darkly poetic feel for the place.

We have to get the film on the Netflix queue.