As much as I’m a cult movie fan, I’m unversed in the work of German director Werner Herzog. This week I begin to remedy that with a sampling of his many films, starting with his most obsessive project.

It’s hard to separate the images and ordeals of Herzog’s fictional Fitzcarraldo and Les Blank’s making-of documentary Burden of Dreams. Both feature overly-devoted dreamers nearly destroyed by attempting the impossible. Herzog gives his characters life-threatening obstacles while Blank reveals the eerily similar turmoil engulfing the set. Praise the actors not so much for their depiction of suffering and madness as for their ability to complete scenes without succumbing to real suffering and madness.

The story is inspired by a 19th century Irish entrepreneur who (with the help of a large crew) dismantled a steamboat and carried it through the Amazon from one river to another. Klaus Kinski plays the titular businessman whose passion for opera fuels his dream to build a monumental music house in the jungle. To do that he must get a ship weighing over 300 tons over a steep mountain. Herzog ups the ante by keeping the ship whole and literally undergoing the same task for the sake of realism.

Burden shows early footage of Jason Robards as Fitzcarraldo and a sidekick played by Mick Jagger. They ham it up as if the adventure is a real gas. When Robards is sent home with dysentery Herzog replaces both men with Kinski. From his first scene the shock-headed leading man suggests such a whirlwind of energy and rage that you can practically see his crazy fiasco unraveling internally before it even begins.

Early in the journey Fitzcarraldo almost gives up as armed natives invade. Fortunately the Indians regard him as a prophet and he enlists them as boat-tuggers. They build a block and tackle system as primitive as their hidden culture. The slow and arduous work kills several people but the natives continue towards their own secret agenda.

Meanwhile in reality, Herzog and company fend off suspicious locals and snipers. A civil war forces production to halt and begin again 1,200 miles away. The Europeans have difficulty adjusting to Peruvian customs while the cheap native labor gets unruly from stress and boredom. Financial woes loom while a boat still needs to miraculously traverse a hill. The head engineer quits, convinced that the folly will turn deadly. It’s incredible that nobody is killed on location (Burden has reference to a fatal plane crash off-set). The worst casualty appears to be Herzog’s boundless spirit when he declares his mad scheme a mistake and curses life in the jungle as obscene.

It’s impossible to watch Fitzcarraldo without thinking of its sensational creation. Regardless, the story and acting are powerful and the landscape is beautiful. And though humbled by the experience Herzog continues to challenge himself with personal and difficult films.

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