Burden of Dreams
Encyclopedia
Burden of Dreams is a feature-length documentary and making-of directed by Les Blank
, shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog
's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo
, filmed in the jungles of South America
.
The film poster was created by Montana artist Monte Dolack
and Eduardo Sanguinetti.
Due to his use of long, uninterrupted takes, his rejection of scripting set pieces and his films’ tendency to document without making overt arguments through narration, dramatic reinterpretation or other techniques, Les Blank’s work has often been tied to the cinema vérité
documentary movement.
Blank himself has denied Burden of Dreams’ connections to cinema vérité. In a 2011 interview with Ben Terrall for the website El Cerrito Patch, Blank discusses a film he is making about the vérité director Richard Leacock
and says that Leacock argued that Blank was not a vérité director. Terrall writes that “Leacock criticized Blank for using lights and a tripod, but Blank said he [was] interested in using whatever tools [could] make his films better." Blank is quoted in the article as saying he is “sympathetic” to cinema vérité, but is not a purist.
Also damning to Blank’s classification as a vérité practitioner is his decision to have Herzog repeat statements he made off-camera while being filmed. In a 2009 interview with Jesse Pearson for Vice Magazine, Blank is asked to recall a scene in the film in which Herzog delivers a monologue about the violence and destruction of the jungle around him. Blank says that the scene originally took place in the middle of a canoe ride, away from cameras, but he liked the speech enough to coax it out of Herzog again. “When the moment was right,” Blank told Vice, “I pulled him aside and said, ‘Can I do a little interview?’ And he said, ‘Sure.’ Goodwin led him around to something that sparked him off on that tangent again. That’s how we got the speech."
Les Blank
Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....
, shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo
Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber...
, filmed in the jungles of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
The film poster was created by Montana artist Monte Dolack
Monte Dolack
Monte A. Dolack is an American graphic artist who lives in Missoula, Montana, in the United States. Frommer's called him "one of the best-known artists in Montana." He works primarily in watercolor, acrylic paint, poster art, and lithographs...
and Eduardo Sanguinetti.
Due to his use of long, uninterrupted takes, his rejection of scripting set pieces and his films’ tendency to document without making overt arguments through narration, dramatic reinterpretation or other techniques, Les Blank’s work has often been tied to the cinema vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
documentary movement.
Blank himself has denied Burden of Dreams’ connections to cinema vérité. In a 2011 interview with Ben Terrall for the website El Cerrito Patch, Blank discusses a film he is making about the vérité director Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock was a British-born documentary film director and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema and Cinéma vérité.-Early life and career:...
and says that Leacock argued that Blank was not a vérité director. Terrall writes that “Leacock criticized Blank for using lights and a tripod, but Blank said he [was] interested in using whatever tools [could] make his films better." Blank is quoted in the article as saying he is “sympathetic” to cinema vérité, but is not a purist.
Also damning to Blank’s classification as a vérité practitioner is his decision to have Herzog repeat statements he made off-camera while being filmed. In a 2009 interview with Jesse Pearson for Vice Magazine, Blank is asked to recall a scene in the film in which Herzog delivers a monologue about the violence and destruction of the jungle around him. Blank says that the scene originally took place in the middle of a canoe ride, away from cameras, but he liked the speech enough to coax it out of Herzog again. “When the moment was right,” Blank told Vice, “I pulled him aside and said, ‘Can I do a little interview?’ And he said, ‘Sure.’ Goodwin led him around to something that sparked him off on that tangent again. That’s how we got the speech."
External links
- "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" - essay by Paul Arthur for the Burden of Dreams DVD at The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
- The captions of Burden of Dreams (English only) at CSwap - Browsable and searchable (JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
required) - The Monte Dolack Gallery - View Monte Dolack's artwork at the Gallery's website.