Burden of Dreams attests to Les Blank’s egalitarian approach to documentation.

[A] gruelling and engrossing Fitzcarraldo backstory.

Amazingly, Herzog always looks in pretty good shape, considering what he’s gone through, and put others through. His burden of dreams is borne with some style. It’s a good curtain-raiser to the film itself.

a portrait of filmmaking as a dangerous, potentially deadly obsession, even in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles