Opening

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Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams (1982)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 3,164

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Movie Info

Documentarian Les Blank, who filmed Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, trained his cameras on Herzog again, as the eccentric German filmmaker made his epic, Fitzcarraldo, in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Herzog's production is in trouble right from the start. He begins filming with Jason Robards playing the title role, and Mick Jagger playing Fitzcarraldo's sidekick, Wilbur. With 40 percent of the film shot, Robards becomes ill and goes back to the states, where his doctor will not let him return.

R,

Documentary, Television, Musical & Performing Arts

Michael Goodwin

May 10, 2005

Flower Films

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All Critics (17) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (0) | DVD (17)

Les Blank's Burden of Dreams is one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made about the making of a movie.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film is at once funny and, in its depiction of the scant differences between art and megalomania, somewhat frightening.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gramophone music soothes the savage breast, and operatic human excess defines director and obsession as well as his lead character.

July 18, 2011 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

O retrato extraordinário de um cineasta que, como o protagonista de seu filme, se entrega à obsessão por amor à Arte.

January 26, 2010
Cinema em Cena

Remarkably candid behind-the-scenes documentary.

August 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A fascinating portrait of a filmmaker pushed to the outer edge of sanity...

October 26, 2007 Full Review Source: All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide

not only captures the dramatic moments where Herzog risks life and limb ... , but he includes small details that provide necessary natural respites from Herzog's 'madness'

September 24, 2005 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

What's provided here is indispensable for Herzog/Kinski junkies.

August 9, 2005 Full Review

Herzog here talks his way through the making of his movie with a remarkable self-consciousness, attuned to the effects of cameras on subjects even as he is such a subject.

August 3, 2005 Full Review Source: PopMatters
PopMatters

Highly worthy of your time.

June 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine

a portrait of filmmaking as potentially deadly obsession, even in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles

May 31, 2005 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk
Q Network Film Desk

Strangely, Burden of Dreams is a better film than Fitzcarraldo, if only because you get to see the fictional portions of the film along with the backstory

May 24, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com
Filmcritic.com

Audience Reviews for Burden of Dreams

There are a number of movies that people who think they want to make movies should see beforehand, and this one just might be the epitome of that.

Werner Herzog is, hands down, the most fascinating film director of all time. He just has all these qualities that elevate him, and subsequently his movies, into another realm. When he decided to make the highly ambitious film Fitzcarraldo, he also had it in mind to have Les Blank join him to film a making-of documenatry chronicling the film's shoot.

And the results are absolutely fantastic. There have been other movies about troubled film shoots, such as Hearts of Darkness about Apocalypse Now, or even American Movie, but they all seem to pale in comparison to this one, maybe just because of how difficult and troubled Fitzcarraldo's shoot was.

There was the problem of nature, logistics (such as doing everything practically, namely hauling a massive steamship over a mountain), countless delays, dealing with tons of Natives, dealing with geographical issues like red tape and potential civil wars, Herzog trying to deal with the force of nature that was the brilliant but difficult Klaus Kinski (this specific struggle mainly being addressed in the deleted scenes, which were actually taken from Herzog's documentary My Best Fiend), and the director's own massive ego, arrogance, determination, and increasing madness and cynicism.

It's not always flattering, but it's never sensationalist, either. It is simply showing things as they happened. Yeah, it's not always easy to watch, but it's so absorbing that it is hard not to. I especially love the unsubtle way that life reflects art/art reflects life, and the parallels with Herzog's real struggles being one in the same as the lead character's struggles.

If you ever wanted insight as to the sort of questions that can be raised concerning how far is to far when going for greatness and art, then you really must see this film. Or, if you just want to see the ultimate making-of document extended to feature length, then here you go.
January 4, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

The ultimate making of Documentary, far better than the other 'ultimate' doc Heart of Darkness. It's a shame Les Blank didn't film Wrath of God but then he may not have survived. A must for film makers, wannabe film makers, producers and Werner worshippers. "I'm duty bound to articulate our dreams as a film maker" - Werner Herzog
August 3, 2012
SirPant

Super Reviewer

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Latest News on Burden of Dreams

April 8, 2013:
Les Blank: 1935-2013
The documentary filmmaker, whose works included "Burden of Dreams," was 77.

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