A vision had seized hold of me, like the demented fury of a hound that has sunk its teeth into the leg of a deer carcass and is shaking and tugging at the downed game so frantically that the hunter gives up trying to calm him. It was the vision of a large steamship scaling a hill under its own steam, working its way up a steep slope in the jungle, while above this natural landscape, which shatters the weak and the strong with equal ferocity, soars the voice of Caruso, silencing all the pain and all the voices of the primeval forest and drowning out all birdsong.
So begins this must-read excerpt from Werner Herzog’s on-set diaries — “Conquest of the Useless: Reflections form the making of Fitzcaraldo” — reprinted in part by The New York Times and on bookshelves now. It’s a must-read for Herzog fanatics. If you’ve never seen “Fitzcaraldo,” don’t just do so arbitrarily. It’s certainly not as transporting as “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” but like all Herzog films, it creates an atmosphere in your mind and takes you on a moody trip. I’ve got to pick up this book, though.