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Master Rank #436

Fitzcarraldo

1982

GCML Total8.5640% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Werner Herzog

CastKlaus Kinski · Claudia Cardinale

West GermanyGermanAdventure / Drama158 minNot Rated
GCML CuratedNarrative FeatureModerate pace
Find Where to Watch
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Cannes · 1

Spoiler-free premise

Rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald tries to haul a steamship over a jungle mountain to finance an Amazon opera house.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Opera fanatic Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, known as Fitzcarraldo, dreams of building an opera house in Iquitos. To fund it, he buys an inaccessible rubber territory and plans to move a steamship from one Amazon tributary to another across a steep isthmus.

Why it belongs

Werner Herzog makes impossible ambition physically real by hauling an actual ship over a mountain, with Kinski's ecstasy confronting the jungle's indifference.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

A gramophone playing Caruso, river currents, ropes, pulleys, mud, Indigenous labor, and the full-scale steamship make obsession materially undeniable—Klaus Kinski's bright-eyed Fitzcarraldo invests logistical madness with devotional fervor.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Cannes1 win1982 · official festival record ↗
Award for Best Director1982 · Werner HERZOGofficial festival record ↗

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

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Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

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