Werner Herzog - Fitzcarraldo (DVD)

Peru Iquitos is a town isolated in the middle of the jungle at the turn of the century. On the outskirts, a few shacks are rotting in the mud. In the centre are the splendid houses of the nouveaux-riches rubber barons. It is in this setting, rich in grotesque contrast, that Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald-Fitzcarraldo, as the natives call him Ills his dream of bringing together Enrico Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt for one great celebration of Grand Opera.

To finance his fantastic dream, Fitzcarraldo decides to exploit a vast area of rubber trees growing beyond the impassable Ucayala Falls. In order to circumvent this barrier, he literally has his huge steamboat lifted over a mountain from one branch of the river to the other.

With the aid of a tribe of Indians bewitched by records featuring the voice of the greatest singer of all time, Fitzcarraldo fights fever, mosquitos and suffocating heat to achieve the impossible....