7) Fitzcarraldo (1982) (Dir. Werner Herzog)
The story behind Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo is just as fascinating as the movie itself: loosely based on true events, it concerns an obsessive opera lover who attempts to haul a steamship over a mountain. Today, such things could be easily achieved with the aid of CGI, but to do this back in 1982, Herzog and his team actually had to accomplish this seemingly impossible task in the midst of the Peruvian jungle.
Herzog, surely one of cinema’s all-time great figures, (and in a great show of life imitating art) became just as obsessed as his titular character in his attempts to move the huge ship to its destination. The production was plagued with an endless amount of problems, the worst of which saw Herzog at odds with his leading man Klaus Kinski, whose temper and argumentative nature threatened to derail proceedings.
At one point, Herzog reported, a native tribesman offered to murder Kinski for him. Herzog declined, but purely because he needed Kinski to finish the film. But Herzog achieved his goal, and his relentless (and slightly maddening) ambition prevailed: the final film is a truly stunning and visionary slice of cinematic heaven.
