Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Aug 19, 2026 6/10

It has a striking, triumphant conclusion, even if the pacing and significance of the voyage aren’t nearly as momentous as in Herzog’s prior works.

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Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Jul 28, 2026

The film only benefits from Herzog’s location shooting and demands of realism with spectacular photography and astounding physical effects, notably the steamship’s headlong rush down the rapids.

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Sep 12, 2023

The film itself is a leaden variation on [Herzog's] Aguirre, the Wrath of God. It’s Aguirre without the inspired images or great subject.

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Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Aug 20, 2022 4.5/5

Much like the frazzled Fitz himself playing Caruso on his beaten up Victrola record player, we sense there is something special in the art we are consuming.

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Michael Sragow Rolling Stone Jun 21, 2022

My reaction is strictly, "So what?”

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Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Mar 18, 2022 4/4

Few motion pictures have captured the frenzied power of obsession with as much veracity.

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Yasser Medina Cinefilia Sep 26, 2021 7/10

A film that moves like a ship through the flow of a river, where Herzog acts as helmsman. [Full review in Spanish]

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Diego Galán El Pais (Spain) Aug 26, 2019

In between the limits of a curious, original, and unexpected work, Fitzcarraldo drags because of its excessive duration. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Elliott Stein Film Comment Magazine Dec 12, 2017 1/4

This botched, shapeless, gratuitous, ignoble, neo-colonialist film is so poorly made, written, edited, and directed that its centerpiece, its raison d'tre -- the honest-to-God hauling of a boat up a mountain before your eyes -- is meaningless.

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Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Aug 26, 2017 3.5/4

...captures both the bravery and the danger of Fitzcarraldo's determination.

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Gary Arnold Washington Post May 5, 2017

"Fitzcarraldo," the latest production from German director Werner Herzog, appears to be an advanced case of directorial self-absorption and self-glorification.

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Dan Jardine Cinemania Jul 30, 2014 76/100

Herzog's film confirms that dreamers and their obsessions can give us otherwise unimaginable moments of pure beauty.

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Paul Taylor Time Out Nov 17, 2011

Herzog charts an ironically circular course around an indulged, benevolent Aguirre; perversely illuminates colonialism with surrealism; and demonstrates once again in his always suspect yet somehow irresistible way that 'only dreamers move mountains'.

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Pablo Villaça Cinema em Cena Jan 26, 2010 5/5

A abordagem de imerso adotada por Herzog, somada performance intensa de Kinski, resulta numa experincia nica e inesquecvel.

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Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com Sep 13, 2007 5/5

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Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Feb 9, 2007

The film may have been intended as an ironic comment on the absurdity of human ambition, but it's an irony that explodes in Herzog's face.

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Susan Granger www.susangranger.com Nov 6, 2006 4/5

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Jay Antani Cinema Writer Aug 24, 2006 4/4

Awesome, hypnotic storytelling, Fitzcarraldo finds this director working in top form

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Ryan Cracknell Movie Views Jul 24, 2006

If you have a dream, the only way to accomplish it is to face it head on. If your dream requires you to drag a massive boat up a mountainside, do it. So says director Werner Herzog in the bizarre but captivating Fitzcarraldo.

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