Fitzcarraldo

Finally saw this German epic about an opera fanatic determined to build an opera house deep in the jungles of Peru. He wants this so bad that he promises a pet pig that he'll have a red velvet chair to sit and watch it from. First he tries to raise the money by becoming the only ice maker in the country. Then he decides he's going to harvest rubber. For this he needs to buy an old steamship, fix it up, then sail it up the Amazon river. He christens the ship Molly after his girlfriend, who runs a brothel and helps finance his mad schemes. When he goes as far as he can, he finds out that he's up shit creek with a paddleboat. At least it looks like a paddleboat. Out of the surrounding jungle come the natives, who are known to have killed missionaries and seem to be threatening to kill again. Fitzcarraldo plays his collection of Caruso phonograph records on the top deck of the ship and convinces the indians that instead of killing him, they should help tow his boat over a mountain to get to a river going downstream on the other side. Which they do. Fitzcarraldo makes it back to civilization, hires an opera company to play on the Molly, which has now been transformed into the opera house of his dreams. I guess I just gave the whole thing away. I first saw the previews to this movie 25 years ago, and I've been wanting to see it ever since. My life is now complete.