Burden of Dreams: Colonialism and Herzog's Ambition

Introduction: A Dream Within a Dream

In 1979, German filmmaker Werner Herzog set out to produce a movie about a rubber baron who dreamed of bringing opera to the jungles of South America. Herzog's film, eventually titled Fitzcarraldo after its protagonist, took four years — as well as literal blood, sweat, and tears — to make. The plot of Fitzcarraldo eerily parallels the actual process by which Herzog made his film. Both depict a European man hauling his pride and ambition into a world where he remains sorely out of place, imposing on the indigenous society and environment a set of foreign ideals.

American documentary filmmaker Les Blank followed Herzog and his crew through the harrowing production of Fitzcarraldo, and the result was the Academy Award-winning feature-length documentary Burden of Dreams. The aptly titled "making of" documentary captures the near-insanity of Herzog's ambition and also subtly illustrates the various levels of culture clash that have resulted from colonialism.

The Spanish effectively helped decimate the native cultures of the Amazon, who are still being systematically persecuted and whose land continues to be exploited. Although Herzog's attitude is respectful in many ways, the making of his film demonstrates the lingering colonial attitudes held by persons of European descent — attitudes that mainly entail a sense of entitlement. Burden of Dreams depicts Herzog's own brand of "manifest destiny." While the documentary is largely neutral in its portrayal of Herzog, Blank cannot help but use his film to express a certain admiration for the obsessively driven German filmmaker.

The Ship Over the Mountain as Colonial Symbol

The most disturbing aspect of Burden of Dreams — in regard to culture clash — is also the central motif of the documentary and of Fitzcarraldo itself: moving a ship over a mountain. In order to capture the raw emotion inherent in such an impossible task, Herzog wanted to recreate the situation exactly. He discovered the ship he wanted in Colombia. Where any ordinary person would have left it alone and built a replica on location in Ecuador or Peru, Herzog ordered the ship moved two thousand miles south — and this was before filming had even begun.

The most disturbing aspect of the documentary is essentially summed up by its title: the burden of dreams. Moving a ship over a mountain remains the central symbol of that burden because it encapsulates an egotistical and colonial mentality. All conquering peoples share egotistical dreams — dreams that inevitably clash with the dreams of the vanquished. Fulfilling such dreams means accomplishing what would normally be considered impossible or ridiculous feats, such as hauling a massive ship across a mountain in the Amazonian jungle.

For a broader context on the history of colonialism and its cultural legacy in South America, the parallels Herzog's production draws upon are deeply rooted in centuries of European expansion and exploitation.

The Burden Imposed on Cast and Crew

Herzog's dream becomes a burden to himself and to everyone around him. Blank shows how Herzog drags down the will of his crew by forcing them to endure harsh and unfamiliar conditions deep in the jungle. Herzog admits that he could have shot Fitzcarraldo just as easily from the town of Iquitos in Peru, where his crew would have had access to adequate food, water, medical supplies, and means of communication with family and friends. However, Herzog believed that only the jungle could draw out certain character traits in his cast and crew — a definitively paternalistic attitude. Throughout the production, Herzog maintained an attitude of "daddy knows best," both with the indigenous peoples and with his Western colleagues. His clashes with Klaus Kinski — who assumed the role of Fitzcarraldo after Jason Robards left the set — as well as with other crew members, demonstrate that Herzog's dreams were a burden to far more than the native population alone.

Although Herzog expresses genuine respect and concern for the native peoples and the environment, he nevertheless demanded more from his crew than was necessary to produce the film. Rather than acknowledging that moving a mega-ton ship over a mountain was a preposterous feat and making appropriate concessions, Herzog elected to postpone production until the ship could be moved. It was almost as if he cared more about testing the wills of his cast and crew than about making a movie. His burden of dreams caused his original stars, Jason Robards and Mick Jagger, to leave the set due to illness and impatience, forcing Herzog to find replacement actors.

Moreover, Herzog's dream burdened most severely those who lost their lives or were physically injured during production. Throughout the entire course of filming, Herzog was besieged with delays that caused his cast and crew to work well beyond what they had originally agreed to. When the crew finally began moving the ship over the mountain, at least one person died. Herzog persisted even after a Brazilian engineer resigned, telling him that what he wanted to accomplish was impossible. His ambition to parallel the exact events of Fitzcarraldo was self-centered; few people cared about the accomplishment as much as he did.

Works Cited

Blank, Les. Burden of Dreams. Documentary film. 1982.

"Burden of Dreams." IMDB.com. Online at <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/>.

"Burden of Dreams." New York Times. 1982. Online at <