Amazon.co.uk Review
Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra star in this visually stunning metaphysical tale of life after death. Neurologist Chris and artist Annie had the perfect life until they lost their children in an auto accident; they're just starting to recover when Chris meets an untimely death himself. He's met by a messenger named Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and taken to his own personal afterlife--a freshly drawn world reminiscent of Annie's own artwork, still dripping and wet with paint. Meanwhile a depressed Annie takes her own life, compelling Chris to traverse heaven and hell to save Annie from an eternity of despair.
The multitextured visuals seem to have been created from a lost fairy tale. Heaven recalls the landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Renaissance architecture complete with floating cherubs, while hell is a massive shipwreck, an upside-down cathedral overgrown with thorns and a sea of groaning faces popping out of the ground (one of those faces is German director Werner Herzog). Williams is the perfect actor to play against the imaginative computer-generated imagery--he himself is a human special effect. But the lack of chemistry between Williams and Sciorra is painfully apparent, and the flashback plot structure flattens the story's impact despite its deeply felt examinations of the heart and the spirit. Still, there's no denying Eugenio Zanetti's triumphant production design and the Oscar-winning special effects, which create a fully formed universe that is at once beautiful, eerie, and a unique example of movie magic. --Shannon Gee
Customer Reviews:
One word - Grim!.......2007-12-20
What a disappointing film. I nearly switched off but stayed in the faint hope it may improve. I shudder to think how it would make anyone, who has lost a loved one to suicide, feel.
It had it's moments, unfortunately though, they were over-shadowed. Probably the only film I have watched with one raised eye-brow and a curled lip all the way through! Writing this with cramped face!
Oh this film is soooo very bad.......2007-09-25
So very very very bad. Dreadful script, awful acting. If you told me this was the first effort of a twelve year old girl novelist wannabe I'd say you were doing a dis-service to twelve year old girl novelist wannabes. Oh it's bad. How bad is it? ..... very. You have been warned.
Time is the teller of all tales.......2007-08-30
This film swims in very deep waters, if you are privvy to new age concepts of the afterlife then this film reinforces such idea's. Of course the depiction may differ to you own thoughts but still a thought provoking drama. It is a very sad film, very dark, I would only recommend watching when you are feeling a little depression.
Robin Williams AKA Demi-god brings a lot to the table with this one, and the main female lead is a bit of beauty in my eyes, so it caters for both sexes, the wife or the girlfriend will be needing some tissues however.
At the end of the day this film is not for everyone, but there is an underlying message this film has, and it is very much a pertinant one given the state of the world today, watch it to find out why.
Not for everyone.......2007-01-07
I found this irritating and boring. I can appreciate the rich efects and sweeping visuals, but after a while it simply gets boring. I just could not swallow the Hollywood concept of a heaven with rules just waiting to be broken. The whole place seemed like hell to me. My recommended approach is to do what we did - watch the first 45 minutes to get the concept, then skip to the final scene. My wife still cried, even though we had skipped the majority of the action!
stunning.......2006-08-22
this is the kind of movies that makes you think about life and its essence. it is really great, the actors are superb. The idea of love, and how great it is in our lives, and how it goes on after death is just what makes you wonder. The visual side of the film is fantastic, vibrant at moments, dark and massively challenging at others. there are some depressing moments in the film,but still it is fab. this is one of the best movies I have seen lately, and Robin Williams is just excellent.
Customer Reviews:
Buy this film!.......2005-03-01
A truly profound film. Dieter Dengler is an inspiring storyteller, and his story is extraordinary. Dengler's poetic optimism shines through defiant, despite the abstract terror of his experiences. Herzog uses mesmerising documentary footage and beautiful music (Tuvan singers, Bartok, Wagner) to relect Dengler's beliefs, and create a mythological feel. The final shot contains more true uplifting sentiment than a thousand feelgood Hollywood movies. Buy!
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, but not as impressive as it once seemed.......2006-07-24
Following the astonishing trail of disasters Werner Herzog faced making 'Fitzcarraldo' on location in Peru - including tribal wars, a seriously ill Jason Robards' departure after 40% of the film had been shot, one ship running aground due to low rainfalls and another obstinately refusing to move up the mountain - Les Blank's famous and once groundbreaking documentary has dated badly.
It's an excellent portrait of Herzog's obsession and the growing madness surrounding the shoot, but it's more a catalogue of catastrophes rather than a candid view of the shoot: although unused footage was shot of Kinski's tantrums, the star and director's relationship is all but ignored and you tend to get the feel of a superior travelog giving the official version (a lot of the other real crises happen offscreen). There's plenty of absurdity on view, such as prostitutes being brought to the native workers camp on the advice of the local Catholic missionary, but 'Hearts of Darkness' it ain't. But you can't help but admire the way that, unlike Fitzcarraldo, who falls prey to the dreams of the natives he thinks are working for him, Herzog manages to cling on to his dreams and ultimately triumph, incorporating each new on-set disaster into his film.
No complaints about Criterion's DVD treatment - the extended theatrical version of the documentary in a beautiful print with commentary, a new 39-minute interview with Herzog, a couple of deleted scenes that were used in Herzog's own doc 'My Best Fiend,' trailer, copious stills gallery and a book with substantial extracts from production journals. An excellent companion piece to 'Fitzcarraldo,' but it probably has less appeal to those not so interested in the film.
Les, Firing Anything But Blanks!.......2006-06-15
Les Blank's documentary is much more than just a making of Werner Herzog's FITZCARRALDO, which is what makes it important and interesting. Like Herzog's own documentaries which blur the boundaries between fact and fiction Burden of Dreams often slips into the realm of a feverish fantasy world. A world in which sanity is far less important than fulfilling dreams and which death and danger are accepted bedfellows. Often FITZCARRALDO becomes immaterial as Blank eye for local detail picks out strange images or centres on exotic looking birds or insects. It exists in a continuum of its own, precariously balanced within the bizarre politics that surrounded FITZCARRALDO'S production and also outside of this melting pot. In many ways it has outlived the film it is chronicling and instead of gratuitous shots of Klaus Kinksi raving we have shots of local customs and portentous doom laden interviews with Herzog. The film is secondary to Herzog, who comes across as driven and perhaps a little insane, affected by paranoia, he sees the jungle and creation itself as an enemy, something to be feared and loathed. He has become the apotheosis of his own movie world and myth making process, the marginalized loner, the outsider.
Unfortunately amid the excitement, we really only get Herzog's side of events and the documentary seems unduly biased in this direction. Nobody else is interviewed, which makes the film seem a little unbalanced. Despite this bias in Herzog's direction he still emerged from FITZCARRALDO and BURDEN OF DREAMS with his reputation in tatters. This is an outstanding piece of work, which shows the film-making process at its most extreme edges.
Criterion's DVD is one of their best. A superb 40 minute interview with Werner Herzog is the sets highlight, but also of note is Blank's brief documentary WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE, to have this included is a precious bonus.
good not great.......2005-05-19
criterion have released a wonderful disc with great extras including a commentary from the film makers and Werner Herzog, a 38 minute interview with Werner Herzog conducted in 2005 and Werner eats his shoe in which the director does just that.
there are some great scenes with the indians who are naturally very suspicious of the film and its intents and this coupled with the difficult surroundings and very idea of the film would be enough to put anyone off, but Werner Herzog is not just anyone. He explains that he could have filmed it with Fox and Nicholson in America in a studio but the effect would not have been the same and he is absolutely correct, a fake plastic minature boat (a la Scorses's Cape Fear) would have looked terrible, it had to be completed with this way because the film is all about FAITH and DREAMS (hence the title Burden of Dreams).
Werner Herzog is Fitzcarraldo in some respects a man with a strange vision, a fever dream that he must complete at all costs in order to justify himself as a human being it seems and like Fitzcarraldo he succeeds in my opinion despite what the intellectuals or reviewers say.
this film however although interesting is only a snap shot of the making of the film, there was so much more going on that has been left out (as is evident in the 86 page diary of the film makers accompanying the DVD). the contents at times is also misleading and through some inventive editing it unfairly portrays Werner Herzog as an egomaniac willing to risk lives in order to complete his films. the length at 90 odd minutes is incredibly short considering the 4 year pre-production and production of the film which with all the ups and down would have given so much more great footage.
all in all it is still a great experience but the film Fitzcarraldo is much more rewarding of the two.
Award winning documentary.......2004-10-18
From the back cover: "The extraordinary feature length documentary about the making of director Werner Herzog's near catastrophic film Fitzcarraldo. Burden of Dreams follows Herzog's apocalyptic river adventure in the inhospitable Peruvian jungle. Filming is constantly thwarted by tribal skirmishes and culture clashes. It seems as is the fates and the weather are conspiring against the messianic German Director.
Insights from the director and interviews with an ever changing and moody cast including, Jason Robards, Mick Jagger and Klaus Kinski. All this helps to piece together the fact from the fiction about this famously troubled film. Burden of Dreams has been described as Les Blank's finest film and has been honoured with awards world-wide including a British Academy Award for Best Documentary."
Customer Reviews:
"At least we're not pulling the boat over a hill." .......2006-08-02
It's not that easy writing a spoiler-free review of Incident at Loch Ness, an entertaining piece of mythmaking flim-flammery and an enjoyable addenda to Werner Herzog's own documentary filmmaking, following the director on his ill-fated Loch Ness film as he finds himself increasingly at odds with producer Zak Penn's interference. Considering Penn's commitment to authenticity involves as much window dressing and outright fakery as he can manage, that's not surprising, but when the fun is over it does manage to raise some points about the validity of documentaries as actual documents of reality in a time when the form's popularity has led to increasing sensationalism and `recreations' to stand out from the pack. But this is first and foremost the Werner Herzog Show, and he doesn't disappoint, whether it's his reaction to an unexpected addition to the crew ("She doesn't luke layk a sonar operator") or arguing with his gun-toting producer who has obviously heard one Klaus Kinski story too many ("Zat's a myvvf! Ay neffer directed anybody at gunpoint!"). Some of the crew are too obviously playing up for the documentary cameras while the last third of the film overplays its hand, but it's hard to dislike a film with exchanges like "Well, at least we're not dragging the boat over a hill." "Vat vos zat?" "Uh, nothing." Although looking at the finished product, I couldn't help wonder how poor Kevin Cowle, one of the few genuinely helpful and competent people at Scottish Screen, felt about his screen credit here: first being famously taken for a ride by the producers of The Evil Beneath Loch Ness and now this...
Fox's R1 NTSC DVD looks fairly skimpy extras wise but comes with an abundance of appropriately hidden features that greatly add to the fun, from deleted scenes - including Herzog talking about why he will only talk French at gunpoint or his stunned dizzy reaction to a nude sunbather, as well as more wisely omitted egomania from Penn as he describes the rigors of producing Osmosis Jones as his Fitzcarraldo - three commentaries, and a making of documentary about the making of documentary about the documentary Herzog never made...
Customer Reviews:
Awsome "White Diamond".......2006-01-20
If you are in the mood for a serious documentary that will put you into a different world for a while, watch this DVD. It is a really nice experience for a thinking person.
Customer Reviews:
Video Poetry.......2007-02-18
This isn't really a Sci-Fi movie. It's more like a bit of video poetry. There isn't even a 'story' in the conventional sense of the word. There's a story, alright, but it's meant more to make you wonder and dream about what you're seeing.
In very simple terms, and without wanting to spoil it, a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy was dying - the atmosphere was freezing - so the inhabitants fled in hundreds of spaceships. One ended up on Earth, one or two centuries ago. The Roswell incident was also one of their probes. But when examining the probe, people on Earth got infected, and the infection spread all over the planet. So Earth sent a manned probe to find another planet. And using advanced navigation techniques, they find a frozen planet, the 'Wild Blue Yonder'.
Now, this is not a real plot. It's a narrative, told while we are treated to great footage of an actual Space Shuttle mission - the one that launched the Galileo probe to Jupiter - and of divers beneath the Arctic ice sheet. All of these would be amazing per se, but with this narrative inviting us to dream 'what if...' and a haunting soundtrack, it becomes dreamlike.
Added to this are interviews with actual scientists describing how all of it could actually be done, adding to the actual 'plot'. A bit of a stretch, I would say, but there's where you'll have to suspend your disbelief for it to work. And it DOES work.
I particularly liked the end. But I won't spoil that!
Customer Reviews:
Style over substance?.......2008-02-01
Plenty of broody posturing from Mr Kinski & an interesting, surreal, dreamlike atmosphere, reminiscent of "A picnic at hanging rock".
However, I found the action sequences very contrived & the fact that many of the characters still looked essentialy "untarnished" after several weeks in the jungle was a tad unrealistic. Underwhelmed!
Heart of Darkness.......2007-12-14
This film is always likened to 'Apocalypse Now' and Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. However it is unfortunately not as good as either.
Don't get me wrong it is still very good, a lot better than average, it just has always seemed to me that people treat the 'making of' stories as though they were at all a part of the film. Yes filming in the amazon was a fantastic feat and Kinski caused quite a bit of furore on set, however the obstacles encountered in production do not judge how good a film is ('Plan 9 From Outer Space' was plagued by porblems as well remember, and that isn't too fantastic is it?). The narrative really has little going on outside of them travelling down a river with, unlike 'Heart of Darkness', no real or satisfying ending or purpose.
It's worth watching though for Kinskis performance and for you to marvel at their surroundings and think 'wow, they really did this?' or if you are a fan of Herzog's other (and in my opinion better) films Fitzcarraldo and stroszek.
I can't believe I haven't seen it before........2007-11-08
Having seen Apocalypse Now about 40 times I am stunned I never saw Aguirre til now. Am a bit gobsmacked. Excellent film with strong imagery that stays with you. A classic.
Woah. .......2007-09-30
Ooooh - what about when Aguirre (Kinski) has a little rant in a village, and for a brief moment looks straight into the camera and into the eye of the viewer:
"I am the wrath of God".
That maddening glare is worth the price of this film. What a performance from Kinski. He is absolutely terrifying as Aguirre the monster. A beautiful film in every way and one of the best endings I've ever seen.
More artistic than historic. .......2007-02-27
Called "A breathtaking journey into the heart of darkness."
The cinema tail of the conquest of Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) and how it might have been as they traverse the Amazon river (Filmed in Peru) in search of the mythical lost City of Gold.
Some see it as real others see holes you can drive a truck through; Any way you see it this is a good place to start in the New German Cinema movement. A good choice of actors and great visuals. This is also an intense way to learn some German. The victim on the raft is full of arrows and he gets kicked before the revealing statement "er ist tot"
Customer Reviews:
Questions of identity and assimilation in Herzog's near-miss.......2006-11-21
This DVD offers Werner Herzog's would-be comeback movie in it's English-language version, although it actually appears to have been shot in English as per most of the bigger budget European films. The film found little favor either with critics or at the box-office, but it still has much to commend it.
Although a significant supporting character rather than the titular lead, it's a far more accurate portrait of famed German psychic-showman-conman Erik Jan Hanussen, the 'prophet' of the Nazi Party, than Istvan Szabo's Hanussen which, like Colonel Redl, took ample liberties with the facts to make dramatic capitol albeit with less success. Herzog's film has it's historical failings to - in truth Hanussen's downfall was linked to his prediction of the Reichstag Fire and the large number of IOUs senior he collected from senior Nazi Party members, including Goebbels and Himmler. But by linking his fate to that of the Jewish strongman he promotes as the Aryan Siegfried (in real life the two men were professional rivals), Herzog does offer a convincing portrait of the dilemma facing Jews in the early days of Nazi Germany: do you hide and assimilate to earn their approval or do you assert your identity all the stronger?
For Hanussen, the answer is to latch onto the rising star of the Nazi Party in the hope that money and power can insulate him (and in truth he was Hitler's personal clairvoyant and, shortly before exposed as a Jew by the communist press, in line to head the Nazi Ministry of the Occult: Hanussen privately wrote that he thought Nazi anti-Semitism was mere electioneering and that Hitler could be swayed by 'good Jews'). Ultimately he fails because underestimates the savagery and severity of the baser instincts he taps into. For the innocent strongman Zishe Breitbart, things are not so simple. As he awakens to the danger and rebels, he finds himself unable to rouse his people and is ultimately brought down by little more than a scratch. Both find themselves unable to control events, merely to predict the inevitable outcome of the terrible movement of history that will allow neither assimilation nor resistance.
It's great raw material, but it's never quite there. As a film it's intriguing and Hanussen's stage act is compellingly recreated through Tim Roth's unsympathetic playing (unlike Brandauer and Szabo's version, this Hanussen is ultimately a cruel victim of his own hubris and self-deception), but Jouko Ahola is not a strong enough pair of acting shoulders as Zishe - he may be able to carry an elephant, but he can't carry the movie. His performance isn't especially bad and it's probably an accurate reflection of the real man, but there's a lack of star quality that enables Roth to walk away with the film and for his absence in the last quarter to add not just an air of futility but of 'Where do we go from here?' padding to it.
Some of the early Shtetl scenes are a little awkwardly paced, the fledgling romance doesn't really work and the script is over-reliant on the audience bringing pre-existing knowledge about the characters to the film (for example, it is never explained that Udo Kier's Count Helldorf was the infamously corrupt and perverted head of the Berlin SA who ultimately murdered Hanussen) so a non-German or less-informed audience will definitely get less out of the film. There's also a lack of context - we see very little of what is happening on the streets with much of the action confined to Hanussen's lavishly recreated Palace of the Occult. But despite it's shortfalls, it's still an intriguing film that, while it never engages the emotions, has more than enough compensations to make it well worth catching.
UK DVD:
- Wild West Heroes
- Yeah Right!: A Girl Skateboard Company Movie [2003] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Y Tu Mama Tambien [2001]
- Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture [1973] (NTSC)
- Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture [1973] (NTSC)
- 24 Hour Party People [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- 6 Pack: Kings of the Kitchen (including Gordon Ramsey, Dominique Bouchet, Guy Savoy, Peter Doyle, Anton Mossiman, Michel Roux [2007]
- Andre [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Even Harder [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Aristide and the Endless Revolution [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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