Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Watch the film ahead of time, and meet us at the Capitol City Diner in Gahanna, OH for drinks, dinner and discussion.

"As a document of a quest and a dream, and as the record of man’s audacity and foolish, visionary heroism, there has never been another movie like it." - Roger Ebert

Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house in his town. In order to raise the money from the rubber business, Fitzcarraldo hatches an elaborate plan to bring a massive boat over a mountain deep in the jungle, with the help of a band of natives.

Fitzcarraldo won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1982. Werner Herzog also won Cannes' award for best director. It is available to stream on Amazon Prime, Tubi, Kanopy, Roku Channel, Plex, Peacock and YouTube TV. The Columbus library says it has two copies on blu-ray and three on DVD.

There's also an excellent documentary about the making of the movie called, Burden of Dreams. It won Best Documentary at the 1983 British Academy Film Awards. It's available on Criterion Channel with membership, and can be rented on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. and the Columbus library has two copies on DVD.