Burden Of Dreams (DVD)

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In thinking of Les Blank´s career, I´m also reminded of the title of a Sugar Cubes´ album, "Stick Around for Joy." Blank has a wonderful sense of humor and dearly loves the subjects his films. His films are celebrations of life filled with ecstasy and vitality. They´re colorful, loud, sometimes delirious, and feature truly eccentric and likeable characters. Les Blank´s films are just plain fun. I don´t know of any filmmaker who has made me smile as consistently as he has. Any man who can make polka seem cool simply has to be a genius.

"Burden of Dreams" is surely Blank´s most "serious" film. The film was shot for PBS, and he was friendly with Herzog so he adopted a slightly different approach than usual, but he still found plenty of opportunities to place his stamp on the film. "Burden of Dreams" is anything but a standard "making of" documentary. Herzog is undeniably the star, and several remarkable interviews with him form the heart of the film. However, Blank also takes great interest in local culture. He films the Indian women as they make masato, a beverage produced by chewing on a root and spitting it out into a tub to speed up fermentation. Yum! He also takes time to speak to the prostitutes hired to help "maintain the peace" among the male crew. And his shots of the river, the jungle, and the local wildlife are quite beautiful; Blank has one heck of an eye.

After three years and against all odds, Herzog eventually dragged his ship over a mountain, but not without repercussions. Accusations from the production of "Fitzcarraldo" continue to dog Herzog even today. Some detractors still insist that his irresponsible actions resulted in the deaths of several Indians; Herzog denies this charge, and counters by noting that he helped them gain the title to their land, a title they still hold today. What remains beyond doubt, however, is that the story behind Fitzcarraldo is one of the most fascinating in the annals of movie-making.

Les Blank´s "Burden of Dreams" is alternately funny and frightening, and certainly unforgettable. If we must call it a "making of" film, let´s at least call it the "Citizen Kane" of "making of" films. "Burden of Dreams" is one of the best films by one of the best of all American filmmakers. If you´re at all interested in the process of filmmaking, and the incredible and unforeseen circumstances filmmakers have to deal with in their profession, don´t miss this one. It´s a gem.


Video

The DVD is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Compared to the VHS (from Les Blank´s Flower Films), the DVD transfer is only a minor improvement. The major difference is in the color balance. On the VHS, flesh tones look very pinkish while on the DVD, they look much more realistic. The greens of the forest are also less garish and oversaturated on the DVD transfer. Otherwise, the image quality of both is about the same (good, but not great) and even the new high-definition digital transfer still has some debris from the source material and the transfer is grainy. Of course, the print didn´t really need much improvement as it was already in good condition so this version is still quite satisfactory.


Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. The documentary features mostly location sound but also has a voice-over narrator and a good amount of music. All aspects are well-mixed, and the dialogue is all clear. The film is in English, German, Spanish and several Peruvian dialects. Optional English language subtitles support the audio.


Extras

I simply love this whole package, but then again I´m a Herzog geek and a Les Blank fan to boot. The extras are just perfect.

Commentary track by Les Blank, Maureen Gosling (the sound recordist on "Fitzcarraldo" and Blank´s long-time filmmaking partner), and Werner Herzog. Blank and Gosling were recorded together, while Herzog was recorded separately. The commentary track makes clear what one could infer from his films; Les Blank is one funny guy.

"Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe." Several eBay sellers are pretty unhappy to see this one included on the disc. This 20-minute film, directed by Les Blank in 1980, has long been one of the "Holy Grails" of Herzog collectors. The title is the plot. Once upon a time, Werner Herzog met a young Berkeley student by the name of Erroll Morris. Morris kept talking about shooting a film, but never did anything about it. Herzog made a bet with him; if Morris ever completed a film, Herzog would come to Berkeley and eat his shoe. Morris filmed "Gates of Heaven" (1978) and Herzog pays off. Herzog cooks his shoes with garlic and some hot sauce, cuts them up with shears and washes it all down with a cold brew. This movie is very, very funny and much more typical of Blank´s work than "Burden of Dreams." I could watch this once a week and never get tired of it.

"Dreams and Burdens." A 38-minute interview conducted with Herzog in January 2005. Herzog is a great story-teller and if you haven´t heard him talk before, you´ll get a kick out of this. However, for long-time fans, he covers familiar territory. The last part of the interview deals more with Herzog´s relationship with Les Blank and is much fresher material.

Deleted scenes. These two short scenes were left out of "Burden of Dreams," but were included in Herzog´s "My Best Fiend" (1999), his film about his relationship with Klaus Kinski. If you haven´t seen "My Best Fiend," you´ll get a kick out watching Kinski go ballistic because he didn´t like his lunch.

The disc also includes an extensive photo gallery (most pictures taken by Maureen Gosling) and a theatrical trailer.

The 80-page booklet included with the disc is the very best offering of its kind. The booklet includes journal entries from Gosling and Blank during the shooting of "Burden of Dreams." Blank talks about food so much, I think he might be a hobbit.


Closing Thoughts

When I managed to buy a VHS copy of "Burden of Dreams" for just six bucks from a poor, unsuspecting store owner, I was giddy for days. It has been one of my most treasured items ever since. So I greet the Criterion release of the film with some mixed feelings. Now any old schmoe can have a copy. Blank has distributed most of his films himself, through his company Flower Films. Except for "I Went to the Ball" (1989), his films have been notoriously difficult to find even for rental. I hope this release is just the first of many. If we´re truly in the golden age of documentary film, Blank´s movies deserve to be seen by as many people as possible.

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