In the rare event where game recognizes game or a filmmaker puts his camera on another filmmaker, there’s no telling what moments of unflinching honesty and remarkable ambition you will find. In his 1982 film Burden of Dreams, documentarian Les Blank (alongside editor Maureen Gosling) trains his camera on one of the most beloved and daring filmmakers of all time — German director Werner Herzog. Blank (Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe) follows Herzog as he fights obstacle after obstacle while making his epic adventure/drama film Fitzcarraldo in the jungles of Peru. Blank covers every moment of victory and frustrating setback as Herzog waxes poetic into the camera and takes all the stress in exasperating stride. In the tradition of William Greaves’s Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) and Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper’s Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991), capturing the filmmaking process can be a surreal and dazzling experience. Putting an eccentric figure such as Herzog in front of the camera definitely pushes the surreal factor. This is, after all, the same man who ate a shoe in another Les Blank documentary, the short film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980) after losing a bet that critically-acclaimed director Errol Morris would not finish his film Gates of Heaven. Any filmmaker crazy enough to eat a shoe after losing a bet and agreeing to have it filmed is more than worthy to be a documentary subject about grand ambition and painful sacrifice.
Werner Herzog as himself in BURDEN OF DREAMS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
From the onset, with the contrast of Candace Laughlin’s (Critters 2) matter-of-fact narration and Werner Herzog’s dreamlike-ambition in his eyes, one might worry that things may not go as smoothly or as complete as our director protagonist may want things to go. The film begins with a conflict among the native peoples within the land where Herzog beings principal photography. As Herzog is accused of exploitation and finds his production (and life) in danger, he soon has to change locations. Pushing production further than expected (a repeated theme throughout this journey), he begins shooting more prominent footage on his film including interesting footage of Jason Robards (All the President’s Men) playing protagonist Fitzcarraldo and Mick Jagger (Performance) playing his assistant Wilbur. Fitzcarraldo is a film about a robber-baron who is determined to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle and transport a steamship over the Andes mountains to a rich rubber territory in the Amazon basin. Watching the initial footage of Herzog’s film with Robards and Jagger together (before Robards left shooting due to falling ill with dysentery and Jagger left due to scheduling conflicts with the next Stones album) gives audiences an intriguing glimpse of what could have been. The two have solid chemistry and Jagger isn’t half bad as an eccentric assistant to an even more eccentric baron. As the production wrestles forward (and Herzog looks more worried and even more determined), the role of Wilbur is removed, Claudia Cardinale (8 ½) joins the cast and the lead actor is changed from Robards to Klaus Kinski (For a Few Dollars More). Fans that know of the turbulent yet brilliant history of collaborations between Herzog and Kinski will look at his arrival with both apprehension and morbid curiosity. Unfortunately, Blank isn’t able to catch much of Kinski’s crazy abrasiveness on camera but that doesn’t take away from the craziness that ensues with the crew’s Herculean task of trying to pull a full-size 320-ton steamship over a small mountain.
Werner Herzog as himself in BURDEN OF DREAMS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Burden of Dreams does not aim to ridicule or make Herzog’s mission seem like it’s a pipedream; the film did get made after all and it is considered to be an audacious cinematic swing in Herzog’s wildly diverse filmography. Burden treats its subject with respect and aims to keep the camera objective as it watches Herzog go through many trials and tribulations with his troubled production. When the film ends, we’re left not with a cynical or cautious take on filmmaking but with a historical document on watching what happens when fierce ambition and dangerous naïveté dangerously clash. This 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo re-release from Criterion has a great set of supplemental features including an attached book combining excerpts from both Les Blank and editor Maureen Gosling’s production journals. The infamous short film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (made two years before Burden) is included as a supplemental feature as well as an audio commentary featuring Blank, Gosling, and Herzog, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes photos taken by Gosling. It’s also worth noting that the film’s new 4K digital restoration is supervised by Les Blank’s son, Harrod Blank. This re-release is the perfect collector’s item for both Herzog and Blank enthusiasts.
Burden of Dreams Blu-ray Special Features:
- *NEW* 4K digital restoration, supervised by filmmaker Harrod Blank, director Les Blank’s son, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Alternate uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Audio commentary featuring Les Blank, editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and Fitzcarraldo director Werner Herzog
- Interview with Herzog
- Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), a short film by Blank
- Deleted scenes
- Behind-the-scenes photos taken by Gosling
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Paul Arthur
- Cover illustration by Richard May; design by Martin Ogolter
Available now on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray November 11th, 2025.
For more information or to purchase, head to the official Criterion Collection Burden of Dreams webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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