I saw FITZCARRALDO before I saw this and man they are the perfect double feature. I'm shocked both Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski would even attempt FITZCARRALDO after doing this one. I do'n’t know how they made either of these films. It seems impossible to bring all of the heavy film equipment not mention the canons, armor, people, rafts, weapons, explosions, etc. through the mountains. Something you can always tell is masterful is when stunts and large set pieces are shown in long shots (especially back then). You know it’s not faked with editing/camera tricks (you see this a lot in Jackie Chan fight scenes in his older films for instance). That is here in droves from the climbing to the mountains to the rapids scenes. Lope de Aguiree is truly the definition of crazy and Klaus Kinski plays him perfectly. He really is one of the biggest villains in cinema. I can’t wait to see MY BEST FRIEND and see what production looked like cause it looks even more harrowing than what is covered in HEARTS OF DARKNESS about the making of APOCALYPSE NOW (which this film is dripping with — Coppola obviously loves this movie). I’m shocked Herzog is as old as he is now, I feel like all of this type of filmmaking in his youth would have killed him young.
