Fitzcarraldo

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/fitzcarraldo

1. How heavy is Fitzcarraldo?
2. What is the film's genre?
3. What is the director's filmography?
4. What is Fitzcarraldo about?
5. Why did the director move a real 320‑ton ship up a hill instead of using special effects?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How heavy is Fitzcarraldo?320 tons
2. What is the film's genre?Epic adventure-drama
3. What is the director's filmography?Herzog's fourth collaboration with Klaus Kinski
4. What is Fitzcarraldo about?It’s a movie about a man who wants to bring an opera house to the Amazon by moving a huge boat up a steep hill.
5. Why did the director move a real 320‑ton ship up a hill instead of using special effects?The director, Werner Herzog, chose to move a real 320‑ton ship up a hill to show how hard work can turn impossible dreams into reality.

Allegory: A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Colonialist Hubris: Excessive pride or arrogance stemming from the belief in the superiority of one's own culture and the right to dominate others.
Artistic Philosophy: A director's or artist's fundamental beliefs and principles about how art should be created and what it should achieve.