Films › Documentary
Burden of Dreams
Directed by Les Blank, 1982
Blank documents the attempt to haul a steamship over a hill in the Peruvian jungle without effects, and the human cost of insisting on it. The film raises hard questions about a production's obligations to the people and place it uses. Herzog's monologues on nature are delivered on location, mid-collapse, which is why they land. It is the counterweight to romantic notions of the visionary director. Blank shoots with a small, patient crew that stays present through repeated equipment failures and cast injuries, refusing to compress the ordeal into a highlight reel. Herzog's on-camera commentary was captured largely unscripted, in the middle of the production's worst stretches, which is why it carries none of the polish of a retrospective interview. Anyone producing on remote or hostile locations should treat this as required viewing on the ethics of location commitment. The film's producers ultimately allowed the shoot to run years over its original schedule, and Blank's access to that decision-making process is rare for a behind-the-scenes documentary of its era.
What to watch for
Watch the ship-hauling sequences and the interviews with the local crew.
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