Overview
An ambitious dreamer takes on the jungle to fulfill his passion for opera.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- operatic
- eccentric
- contemplative
- arthouse film night
- cinephile viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly admire the film's awe-inspiring practical spectacle, eccentric performances, and audacious vision, while noting that its darker colonial implications receive limited examination.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The enormous riverboat is actually hauled over a mountain, making Fitzcarraldo's ambition a visible engineering feat rather than an abstract fantasy.
Fitzcarraldo pursues an opera house in the Amazon and turns commercial enterprise into a vehicle for bringing European high culture to the jungle.
The rubber business funds the opera dream while the expedition depends on local Indigenous assistance and unfolds within the rubber frontier.
Klaus Kinski's Fitzcarraldo is driven by an all-consuming love of grand opera, expressed through increasingly monumental acts of will.
Films like Fitzcarraldo, and why
Apocalypse Now
shares audacious ambition, extreme natural environments, colonial exploitation, and a director foregrounding the physical ordeal of production
2001: A Space Odyssey
shares grandiose obsession, monumental landscapes, arduous practical spectacle, and a protagonist pursuing an impossible personal vision
The Mission
shares an eccentric dreamer, historical adventure, obsessive artistic aspiration, and the collision between individual will and hostile environments
Movie Details
- Director
- Werner Herzog
- Release Date
- 1982-03-02
- Runtime
- 157 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (927)
Cast
- Klaus Kinski
- Claudia Cardinale
- José Lewgoy
- Miguel Ángel Fuentes
- Paul Hittscher
- Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez
- Grande Otelo
- Peter Berling
- David Pérez Espinosa
- Milton Nascimento
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Philo, Night Flight Plus, Fandor Amazon Channel, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel, Cineverse Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Fitzcarraldo about?
- An eccentric opera fanatic attempts to drag a steamship across an Amazonian mountain to finance his dream of bringing grand opera to the jungle.
- What is Fitzcarraldo like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Fitzcarraldo as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Fitzcarraldo violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Fitzcarraldo as mild.
- What did critics think of Fitzcarraldo?
- Critics broadly admire the film's awe-inspiring practical spectacle, eccentric performances, and audacious vision, while noting that its darker colonial implications receive limited examination.
- Which films are like Fitzcarraldo?
- Films with a similar feel include Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Mission.
- How long is Fitzcarraldo?
- Fitzcarraldo runs 157 minutes.
- Where can I watch Fitzcarraldo?
- In United States, Fitzcarraldo streams on fuboTV, Philo, Night Flight Plus, Fandor Amazon Channel, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel, Cineverse Amazon Channel.
