Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)Adam & Sam's takeI knew it ! Herzog is a closet humanist !
More on that later, but Fitzcarraldo is really everything I hoped it would be, and more. In Aguirre, I felt that Herzog simply didn't have the budget and/or technical mastery to quite accomplish what he was setting out to do. Which... yeah, does that remind you of a certain eponymous character ? More on that later too. In Woyzeck, I questioned Herzog's ability and/or willingness to simply tell a story and Kinski as a likable character we can empathize with on a level beyond "well, he IS human..." : Fitzcarraldo proves me wrong on both counts. I can't believe how warm Kinski's performance is here, how much he made me constantly root for him throughout : a lot of that is in the filmmaking of course, but Kinski's very communicative smile (!!!) does wonders too. So does his witsful staring : it's the first time I really felt like I knew what he was dreaming about. As far as the story goes : the first half-hour of setup is by far the weakest part of the film, but it is very much necessary and gives the film a momentum that Aguirre didn't... not that Aguirre needed it, that film's aimlesness is certainly part of its point, but Fitzcarraldo ends up almost being an adventure film, with Herzog even giving us a few "gathering up a crew" moments, with the ship's captain and cook.
This all means that once we get into the jungle, we care about these characters, even the secondary ones. We want Fitzcarraldo to succeed : because he's endearing, because Claudia Cardinale wants him to, and for the beauty of the gesture. That last one is where I'll get back to my original point : of course Herzog's humanism strikes through in the sense that Fitzcarraldo succeeds. His true goal was never to bring rubber back and become rich : it was to bring the opera to the jungle, and get a steamer over a mountain and build a railroad through the Amazon jungle... it was to accomplish
something and to be
someone, more than just another insignificant mortal. Fitzcarraldo made me realize that Herzog really, deeply, admires characters like Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre and even John Okello (the revolutionary he borrowed the "Wrath of God" lines from). He might have them soliloquy about the meaningless of life, and surely he does have a good chuckle when they fail because he's conflicted about their grand attempts, but in the end they're right... and Herzog himself is of course exactly like them, something I had somehow not realized until now (even after listening to the Aguirre commentary) : his cinematic enterprises are just as mad as anything they do, by definition in Fitzcarraldo's case.
To get back to the actual film, what makes it stand out is that it is simply a thrilling ride, once the steamer starts its journey. The initial progression with tension mounting up, helped by Popol Vuh dread-inducing score and the knowledge of what silence meant in Aguirre (hearing the first jungle bird made me realize I had really missed them from that film). That the natives this time end up helping out could seem like a cop out, but it is a great turnaround : the film is simply filled with these characters who want to accomplish something more : Herzog is quick to dismiss the idea that the Jivaro would think Fitzcarraldo is a god, but they do want to see if that boat can get through those rapids, and even minor characters like the guy who was waiting for Fitzcarraldo at the train station further serve Herzog's humanistic streak here, as do those loving shots of the steam engine accomplishing the impossible.
Then we get to the business of bringing the boat over the mountain, and I'm very mad that Sam stole my Andrey Rublyov reference, ten years ago. The similarities with that film's last hour were striking to me, with the difference being that I was even more afraid it would fail here, given Herzog's reputation. As the guys mention, every noise it makes while it's getting along is excruciating, and the moment when it enters the water on the other side is as magical as anything I've seen on film. The passage through the rapids is almost too much : just that moment has made the whole thing worthwile already, and they could have died right there that I would have still seen this film as a celebration of the human spirit. But it allows for the wonderful epilogue : Kinski's never looked so happy, and I was right there with him.
9/10 (the first half-hour is painful enough that it does prevent it from getting a perfect score, at least on first viewing)
Sidenote : Aguirre is really growing on me as a film. As I watch more Herzog, I feel like I misunderstood some what he was doing there.