Burden of Dreams - Criterion Collection

Burden of Dreams - Criterion Collection
by Les Blank, Maureen Gosling

List Price: ~~$39.95~~
Our Price: $24.94
You Save: $15.01 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $22.85 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Father Mariano Gagnon, Jos? Lewgoy, Klaus Kinski, Miguel Angel Fuentes, Werner Herzog
Director: Les Blank, Maureen Gosling
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; German (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion

DVD Reviews of Burden of Dreams - Criterion Collection

DVD Review: Herzog is the MAN!
Summary: 5 Stars

Some of the reviews discuss how slow the film is, and that is true. I think the editing is slow for two reasons. One, it allowed the setting to sink in, to become another character the way Herzog stated he like to do in his films. Second, it mirrored the tedious pace of the production of the film. If the crew waits all day to film for one hour, we should wait a little too to get a sense of the numbing boredom. Having said that, the film is not boring. It is a wonderful meditation on one man's vision and the lengths to which he'll go to see them on screen. I kept asking myself, "why not just give up? This seems much too difficult and dangerous?" Giving up is what a normal person would do. This film is not about a normal person--it is about a man with a monomaniacal, dangerous vision. In the end, the film doesn't moralize, and I appreciate that. Some see Herzog as a total jerk, others see him as a visionary. This film accomodates both interpretations.

DVD Review: Insanity in the Peruvian jungle
Summary: 4 Stars

"Burden of Dreams" recounts film director Werner Herzog's insane project to film "Fitzcarraldo". The project is continually dogged by disasters and the obsessive requirements of Herzog himself. The documentary-makers record the events in an impressionistic fashion, giving one a real sense of the otherworldy atmosphere of filming in the Peruvian jungle.

The DVD includes a throwaway item "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" on Herzog's support of Errol Morris's "Gates of Heaven".

DVD Review: Could be more complete
Summary: 4 Stars

Documentary buffs and those already familiar with Werner Herzog's career will probably really enjoy this film. I, however, tend to buy "Criterion Collection" DVDs because they are like taking film studies classes in a box (a major they didnt have back in my day). In other words, they are fun, fully informative DVDs: movie, background, and all relevant materials to understand why and how a film is "classic" or "important". I guess. I would have liked to have had a boxed set that included Fitzcaraldo. See that movie first. Read a little on Herzog. THEN get this movie.

DVD Review: Werner Herzhog is a God
Summary: 5 Stars

If your ever having a bad watch this movie!! This documentary exhibits the extreme case of a movie production gone sideways. All forces of nature were against the making of this movie. Somehow Herzhog stayed focused and comitted pushing it though to its completion. We get a personal insite into the philosophies that make Herzhog a great filmaker and human being. THe extras are great in this dvd as well.

DVD Review: for Herzog fans
Summary: 4 Stars

This documentary is a bit haphazard, jumping from one thing to the next, without much filler. At once it focuses on the politics of the native tribes and then jumps to clips of Jason Robards and Mick Jagger. However, I do think that this effect does illustrate the chaos surrounding the making of the film. The biggest weakness is the high pitched, plaintive narration by the woman narrator. The type of documentation of such a dreadfull film experience calls for something more authoritative. I suspect this documentary is best enjoyed by Herzog fans. I could be captivated for an hour listening to Herzog talk about washing clothes. He is such a charasmatic figure in his own right. What is really inspiring is despite every possible road block thrown his way--local politics, hostile German press, lead actors having to quit half way through the filming, the huge personality of Kinski, not to mention the sheer insurmountable effort to get the film produced---Herzog persists. It is really quite amazing, and the overwhelming impression is that his passion for film is such that he has absolutely no other option but move forward.

Description of Burden of Dreams - Criterion Collection

For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete the most ambitious and difficult film of his career-Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, made all the more perilous by Herzog's determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of natives to pull a full-sized, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain. The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded passion of one of cinema#s most fearless directors.

General DVDs

DVD Video

Bestsellers in General DVDs

Valentino: The Last Emperor
PEACE ARCH HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2009-09-08; DVD
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: ~~$14.99~~

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns Image

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
BURNS,KEN; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $35.95
Price in other shops: ~~$99.99~~

On the Road with Charles Kuralt, Set 1
Acorn; Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $27.10
Price in other shops: ~~$39.99~~

The National Parks: America's Best Idea [Blu-ray]
Release date: 2009-10-06; DVD
Best price: $68.53
Price in other shops: ~~$129.99~~

Monty Python: Almost The Truth
Uni; Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~

The Secret (Extended Edition)
The Secret; Release date: 2006-10-01; Published: 2006; DVD
Best price: $7.78
Price in other shops: ~~$24.95~~

The Carter
HART SHARP VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $13.85
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

Ken Burns: National Parks - America's Best Idea
Release date: 2009-10-06; DVD
Best price: $60.95
Price in other shops: ~~$99.99~~

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $26.67
Price in other shops: ~~$79.98~~

Food, Inc.
MAGNOLIA PICT HM ENT; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops: ~~$26.98~~

Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs

Herzog on Herzog
by Werner Herzog
Faber & Faber; Published: 2003-07-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.33
Price in other shops: ~~$16.00~~

Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $15.53
Price in other shops: ~~$24.99~~

Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Anchor; Release date: 2000-10-24; DVD
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops: ~~$19.97~~

Encounters at the End of the World
Unknown; Release date: 2008-11-18; DVD
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

The White Diamond
Genius; Release date: 2005-10-25; DVD
Best price: $44.99

Werner Herzog Collection
Werner; Release date: 2004-08-03; DVD
Best price: $26.99
Price in other shops: ~~$69.97~~

Kinski: My Best Fiend
Release date: 2000-08-15; DVD
Best price: $9.78
Price in other shops: ~~$19.97~~

Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski: A Film Legacy
KINSKI,KLAUS; Release date: 2004-02-10; DVD
Best price: $26.99
Price in other shops: ~~$69.97~~

Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo
by Werner Herzog
Ecco; Published: 2009-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.54
Price in other shops: ~~$24.99~~