Burden of Dreams Page #2

said that we would cut -

we would dig a canal

between the two river systems -

between Rio Maran

and further up between, uh...

Rio Cenepa and leave the community

of Waiwaim as an island...

which would dry out.

And they spread rumors we -

we would, uh...

slaughter them and take the grease

out of their bodies and cook the grease...

and that we would rape their women

and that we would, uh...

do any kind of harm to them.

There were other rumors by the press

that we were smuggling arms.

That we had -While we were shooting

that we destroyed their fields.

But we are not shooting yet.

There were rumors that, uh,

we had four-

On our demand,

four Aguaruna Indians were arrested...

who were in opposition against us.

Which is a blatant lie.

And it can be checked easily.

Not even the council of the Aguarunas

maintains that anymore.

And then there were

some, uh, agitators here -

Even from Germany

two guys came here eight days ago...

and they brought

a lot of photos with, uh -

from concentration camps

with piles of bodies.

And they had other photos

with them of a- of a tribe-

I don't know yet which one.

And they claimed that I had, uh-

It was my fault...

that this tribe was extinguished

and wiped out.

We are necessary

as an enemy that can be beaten...

because they will not dare

to attack, uh...

the, uh - the military camps.

They will not dare to attack, uh,

the petrol companies...

but since we are small,

we -we may be -

uh, we may be the losers.

Sensing imminent danger, Herzog pulls

most ofhis film crew out of thejungle.

On December 1, 1979,

armed Indians surround the film camp...

and order everyone

who's still there to leave.

When the camp is empty,

the Aguarunas burn it to the ground.

The last members

of Herzog's crew flee downriver...

flying white flags from their canoe.

It takes Herzog 13 months

to find a new location for thejungle camp.

In January, 1981,

filming finally begins in Iquitos...

1,500 miles north of the new camp.

Iquitos is a river port city near

the headwaters of the Amazon in northern Peru...

with a jet airport

and a population of 200,000.

It was originally a rubber boomtown

built at the turn of the century...

when giant fortunes were being made

overnight in the rubber business.

This is the historical period

in which Herzog's film story is set.

The cast features

Jason Robards as Fitzcarraldo...

a poor, charming Irishman

who's obsessed with grand opera.

Fitzcarraldo is determined

to build a great opera house in Iquitos...

where his idol,

Enrico Caruso, can perform.

His first scheme involves trying to convince

Iquitos's high society to finance the project...

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