Burden of Dreams Page #6

That's what she says.

They call the other one an "old lady. "

Now my aunt's saying, "Go.!

Now that he's left his wife,

go live with him. "

And who's that girl in the back?

My sister-in-law.

She's also on her side. She's saying...

"Now that I really don't have

my husband, I don't want him.!

I'll leave him. "

Father Mariano Gagnon,

a Franciscan missionary...

comes to look into the welfare

of the Indians from his mission.

The Indians are bored,

morale is low...

and some of the latest arrivals have had to

leave their wives and families behind.

On top of everything else,

the only soccer ball in camp has a hole in it.

We can't solve the problem...

of their being confined

to such a small area.

Secondly, we can't solve the problem...

of their wives and families

not being here.

We can certainly solve the problem

of the medicine, the sanitation.

As for the masato,

we'll talk to the others.

- The soccer problem is very serious.

- Their not having masato is a problem.

Who's going to make it for them?

The women make masato.

If the women from their own tribes

aren't here, they can't have masato.

Another woman from another group

can't make masato for them.

That would compromise the tribe.

It's part of their culture,

and it's just not done.

That's a problem.

There's nothing really serious.

It's just little things.

But I'm sure a lot of them

could be straightened out.

The film crew is just as bored as the Indians.

A series ofbulldozer breakdowns

and heavy rains have slowed filming to a crawl.

People amuse themselves

as best they can...

but below the surface,

anxiety and frustration are high.

If we would work

from the morning to the evening...

- Yeah.

- that's fine.

That's fine.

You- You have to do something.

You have to move, you know. But now we're

just sitting and sitting and sitting around. So-

You can't go anywhere.

You can't go -

You can't escape

of this f***ing stinking camp...

because you never know

when they call you.

Because you have to be here

because you're paid for it.

You are under contract,

so you can't just go.

It means you're completely

captured here.

Completely. You go from there to there

and from there to there.

That's all that you can do.

So, of course, it's -

At least you have this view.

Instead of-

Instead of something else.

And you feel you're right in thejungle...

which is a good feeling,

you know.

Ay, ay, ay.

- Nice?

- Really nice, isn't it?

What do they do that with?

What? The tattoo?

They do it with a needle.

- Doesn't it hurt?

- Just a little.

What do the wings mean?

- The wings and the heart.

- They stand for love.

It's not your sign, is it?

No, it's not my sign.

Do you want a tattoo?

- Yes, on my leg.

- Your leg?

Here.

I agreed to have them here...

because even the Dominican padre here...

advised me very strongly

to have them here.

Because, as you know,

in the neighborhood...

we do have two, uh, native villages -

Machiguenga villages.

Shivancoreni and Camisea.

And if after months and months...

of having these people here

in the - in the camp - all the workers -

mestizos and white people -

uh, they might go after the women

down in the - in the villages...

and that would -

would really cause problems.

So, even the Catholic priest has advised us

to have some - some ladies here.

You have two children?

- Yes, two children.

- How old are they?

- One is eight months old. The other is three years old.

Did you get into this profession

because you liked it?

No, out of necessity.

Not because I liked it.

If it was because I liked it...

I'd find a man and spend my time

with him and fulfill my needs...

if it was for my pleasure.

But it's not that.

I do it out of necessity.

When you would ask me, uh...

to have a prostitute in my, uh-

on my shooting location in the United States

or in Germany, it would be ridiculous...

but here, uh...

it is standard expectation

and standard behavior...

and somehow the -

I don't know.

The -The jungle sweats it out.

It's not even ob-obscene.

It is, uh...

probably some fertility

or whatever...

that's going on here in thejungle.

Estebn.

Be careful when we hit

so you don't fall off.

Boom.

Well, the boat that Fitzcarraldo

actually pulled across was only 30 tons.

- Yes.

- And how big is your boat?

Besides, they, uh, disassembled it

in about 14 or 15 parts...

and carried these parts individually

across a mountain.

And, um...

I find it much better to -

to leave it intact as it is.

Like this here.

And you can tell the difference -

that this is not a plastic boat

and that this -

that this slope here is no -

no joke at all.

The central metaphor of my film...

is that they haul a ship over

what's essentially an impossibly steep hill.

If I lose that by using a level terrain...

like the Panama Canal...

I lose the central metaphor

of my film.

For this reason, we don't agree.

As I've said,

I'd like to take a bit greater risk...

than what you advise.

Laplace Martins, a Brazilian engineer...

has worked out a complicated system

to pull Herzog's ship over the hill...

with cables, pulleys and the bulldozer.

But the system is designed

for a 20-degree slope.

Herzog insists on 40 degrees.

The system has already failed once.

Martins is afraid people will die

if it tears apart again.

About 60 men will work on this big capstan.

This is one of the places

of greatest potential danger.

If the tractor pulls loose

from the pulley system...

one of the cables could break...

and the pulley could wind up here.

And if the ship begins

to slide backwards...

it will drag all this with it.

And if there are people here...

and if for some unfortunate reason

they can't jump clear...

or jump from here to there,

which is lower ground...

they'll run the risk of getting hit.

This winch could hit this one...

this one could hit this one, and so forth.

It would be a real catastrophe.

To be safe, let's all stay here...

until the post is secure.

We need someone very

responsible who will always be by the post...

ready to warn us

if anything goes wrong...

and stop the work immediately

if there are any signs...

that the post can't hold out.

Otherwise, four, five, or six people

could lose their lives.

- Many more.

- More?

He says that more than five would die.

If there are 60 people, how many could die?

They could all fly offlike a rocket.

He says they would all fly offlike rockets.

Yeah, if the thing pulls out.

- Then 20 or 30 would die.

Martins quits.

Herzog decides to continue without him.

There's a 30% chance...

a 30% chance they'll do it.

Does that mean a 70% chance of catastrophe?

Yes. It could be a catastrophe.

What do you think

about pulling a ship over a mountain?

They won't be able to do it...

because it's not small.

If it were a tiny little boat,

they could do it quickly.

But since it's huge,

the cables could pull out and kill us.

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