#287: BLANK, Les: Burden Of Dreams (1982)

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BLANK, Les (United States)
Burden Of Dreams [1982]
Spine #287
DVD


For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career — Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, made more perilous by Herzog's determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of native Indians to pull a full-size, 320-tone steamship over a small mountain. The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded mission of one of cinema's most fearless directors.

95 minutes
Color
Monaural
in English, German, Spanish, and indigenous Peruvian languages
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2005
Directors/Writer


Narration written by Michael Goodwin.
Les Blank was 47 when he directed Burden of Dreams.

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Eight-page wraparound featuring an essay by Paul Arthur, plus an 80-page book of excerpts from Blank and Maureen Gosling’s production journals.

Commentary

By director Blank, editor and sound recordist Gosling, and Fitzcarraldo director Werner Herzog.

Dreams and Burdens

A 38-minute video interview with Herzog.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)

A 20-minute film by Blank featuring Herzog fulfilling a bet.
Deleted scenes

Photo gallery

Of images taken by Goslin
Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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