Burden of Dreams (1982)
Criterion Collection, Restored, Special Edition

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For nearly five years, acclaimed German director Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult projects 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 more perilous by Herzog’s determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of Indigenous locals to pull a full-size 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 mission of one of cinema’s most fearless directors.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION 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