BURDEN OF DREAMS

Les Blank.....Director/ Cinematographer/ Producer
Maureen Gosling.....Editor/ Sound

Starring: 
Werner Herzog
Klaus Kinski
Claudia Cardinale
Jose Lewgoy
and others…
With special appearances by Jason Robards and Mick Jagger.

  “You wanted to know the story of “Fitzcarraldo”? It’s a strange story…”

  “Burden of dreams” was lensed in 1982 by noted american documentarian Les Blank with the help of editor and sound recorder Maureen Gosling on the set of Werner Herzog’s film “Fitzcarraldo”.

  Les Blank, by that time already an established auteur and a good friend of Herzog's had received from Herzog carte blanche to be on the set of “Fitzcarraldo” and film there whatever and whenever he would feel like. So that Blank’s directorial sensibility and his sense of tact were the only factors that limited his little independent crew.

Thanks to that what we’ve got as a result is in no way a dry and servile reproduction of how the film in question was made, but rather a documentary film of great value on its own, filled with its mood and wonderful details, conveying the real feeling of “what it was like to film “Fitzcarraldo”, and as such being, according to Werner Herzog himself “the only making-of film I know that isn’t an utter misery”.

  Revealing a lot of information concerning the machinery of the production, the myriad of problems with logistics and intercultural relationships, ecological and even political controversies arisen around “Fitzcarraldo”, Blank’s unobtrusive 16mm Aaton LTR camera always finds enough time to sneak into the mundane lives of those on and around the set, to catch a lot of “unimportant moments that later somehow became important” as Herzog put it. And a queue of ants, crossing the path, a beautiful flock of blue butterflies, forming exquisite ornament on the ground, tropical rain, dripping through the thick foliage of Cauchuc trees, process of making Masato by Campa women, faces of indigenous people as well as their feet, not distorted by wearing shoes – that is what interests Blank in no less degree than, for example, shooting aboard a steamboat drifting between the rocky coasts of Pongo De Las Muertes, or Werner Herzog, as he directs the pulling of the huge hull of a wheel steamship up a steep slope with a great danger to many dozens of men involved.
 
  In the interviews that Les Blank coaxed out of Werner Herzog throughout the different stages of production Herzog sheds some light on the reasons and background behind "Fitzcarraldo", his hopes and uncertainties, as well as general speculations on how much one can put at stake to pursue his “dream”, on nature of his trade, on his ambivalent feelings towards miserable and blatantly obscene cornucopia of the jungle, the land, "where God has not finished creation" and so forth. 

  “I shouldn’t make films anymore. I should go to the lunatic asylum” is Herzog’s final phrase in the film. He still didn't know then if he would ever finish it.

   The fact that the megalomaniac efforts of Herzog's weren't unlike those of his hero and maybe even surpassed them (even more so knowing the real story of the rubber baron from which Herzog developed his script) makes "Burden of Dreams" an interesting example of how far a film director can go to assert his creative Ego.
It also allows the film to be considered a sui generis documentary equivalent of “Fitzcarraldo” and shows how the process of filming can be as much captivating as the film itself.

The comments with Herzog and Les Blank / Maureen Gosling are on the same track, but were recorded separately and are very informative on both sides.


_NTSC_Color_95min_1.33:1 aspect ratio.
_Audio commentary by Les Blank, Maureen Gosling and Werner Herzog.
_In English, German, Spanish, and indigenous Peruvian languages.
_Optional English subtitles.



WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE

  On the disc you can also find a 20-minute documentary "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe". It too was filmed and produced by Les Blank. Nonsensical as it is, its name should be taken literally. Here Herzog cooks and eats his shoe, after having bet then aspiring director Errol Morris that he would never bring his sophomore effort "Gates of Heaven" to fruition and losing the bet. The whole ceremony took place in a public hall and was used by Herzog to obtain some attention from media and producers to the film by Morris.

 
DREAMS AND BURDENS

  For those of us, who even after seeing “Burden of Dreams” and listening to the comments track are still not sure about what really happened on the set of “Fitzcarraldo”, Werner Herzog recorded in 2005 a 38-minute interview, in which he looks back at “Fitzcarraldo”, at his relationships with Les Blank and, of course, at "Burden of Dreams" expressing his attitude towards the film. That sometimes makes “Dreams and Burdens” a comment on comment, which is great as long as you don’t lose the thread. 
  Anyway, Herzog comes to conclusion that "nothing will ever depict properly the work on “Fitzcarraldo” and I include “Burden of Dreams” now".

  Enjoy!

P.S. Important note: see "Fitzcarraldo" first:
 
http://thepiratebay.ee/torrent/4423548/Fitzcarraldo_Werner_Herzog_1982


_DVD9 untouched.