Burden of Dreams (1982)

For this installment of Letterboxd Lists we take a look at the featured list that I have made the least amount of progress with. That list is the Official Top 250 Documentaries and the documentary we’re looking at this week is currently sitting at number 140 on the list… Burden of Dreams (1982).

Title: Burden of Dreams

Director: Les Blank

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

Released: August 30, 1982 (Venice Film Festival)

Available to stream on: The Criterion Channel

Having recently watched Fitzcarraldo (1982), I figured why not then watch the documentary that shows us making the film was just as crazy as the film itself. That is where Burden of Dreams (1982) comes in.

In case you haven’t seen Fitzcarraldo (1982), allow me to give you a quick synopsis so you’re up to speed. Fitzcarraldo becomes obsessed with opening an opera house in the rain forest, in Iquitos to be exact. When he fails to secure the funds necessary to finance this project, he decides he’s going to venture to a remote part of the Amazon basin and harvest rubber trees to finance the opera house himself. Fitzcarraldo then decides that the quickest way from point A to point B would be to have his crew pull his 320-ton ship up and over a muddy steep hillside. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. If you want to see more, go check it out on Tubi and/or Peacock.

To say that there were a few hiccups during production would be the understatement of the year. In fact, I was already shocked that Fitzcarraldo (1982) was able to finish production at all, then I realized that I still had an hour left in the documentary.

Having an actor drop out of a project is never ideal, especially when you’re halfway through filming. Well, that’s exactly what happened here. Jason Robards was originally cast as the lead, but he came down with amoebic dysentery and was rushed back to New York. His doctor refused to allow him to fly back and continue filming. This resulted in Herzog putting production on hold for six months while he tried to replace his lead.

Eventually, Herzog brings ‎Klaus Kinski in as the new Fitzcarraldo. Unfortunately, during the time it took to find a replacement, co-star Mick Jagger (yes, that Mick Jagger) had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with his tour. This leaves Herzog having to scrap everything he previously shot and start from scratch.

Pretty chaotic, right? Well, as Burden of Dreams (1982) shows us, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

There’s tension between not only the local tribes but the tribes and the production crew as well. The impact of filming in isolation becomes clear as we see the difficulty of flying in supplies. Don’t forget, there’s also the small task of getting the ship up over the hill. In fact, that stunt alone caused the Brazilian engineer to throw his hands up and walk off the job, convinced it was far too dangerous.

I could go on and on about everything covered in Burden of Dreams (1982), but I won’t. Hands down, it is one of the best making-of documentaries that I have ever seen. You won’t regret carving out an hour and a half to experience it for yourself.

If you have seen Burden of Dreams (1982), I want to hear your thoughts on it.

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