25 Cult Movies You Must See Before You Die
14. Fitzcarraldo
Best known for the true behind-the-scenes story of how director Werner Herzog forced his crew to actually haul a huge ship over a mountain (a feat the real Fitzcarraldo didn't actually do and could easily have been replicated with special effects), there's still enough magic on-screen to warrant letting this 1982 film into your life.
Easily Herzog's best collaboration with one-again, off-again nemesis Klaus Kinski, the actors stars as would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who is determined to transport a his steam ship over a huge hill so he can get to the rich rubber territory on the other side.
As with all the German director's films, there's some stuff in there about the human spirit, triumphing over nature, megalomania – all themes which Kinski single-handedly gets across with his performance, even if he requires a little more manpower to shift that massive great ship. The Peruvian jungle is especially magnificent.