Fitzcarraldo (1982): Cast, Box Office, Plot & Where to Watch

In the early decades of the 20th century, Iquitos, a frontier city perched in the Amazon basin east of the Andes, swells with the rush of a rubber boom and becomes a melting pot for newcomers from Europe and North Africa. Amid this vibrant, unsettled scene, Fitzcarraldo stands out as a tenacious dreamer with an almost religious love for opera and for the legendary Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. He envisions turning this remote outpost into a cultural beacon by building an opera house, even as his pockets stay stubbornly empty. The city’s economic fever, the scramble for land, and the allure of grand performances weave together to fuel his single-minded pursuit.