Come on, we are late!
As long as we're doing it, let's do it in style.
A few minutes more...
We're gonna miss Caruso!
If you don't put some fire on that!
You've wiped your hands all over your face.
Come closer, come...
Come closer. - Oh Molly!
Isn't that better? - Molly, please, come on!
- Come on now, for God's sake!
Fitz!
Best Champagne!
We're gonna make it.
Monsieur, Madam. You can't go in there!
This is a gala performance.
We come from lquitos, 1,200 miles down the Amazon.
I had to row because our motor broke down. - Just look at his hands.
Two days and two nights I've been rowing
to see Caruso once in my life.
I'm sorry, you have no tickets.
Can't you see this man needs desperately to go in there.
He hasn't got a ticket but he's got the right.
- Please! - Sir, Madam, you can't go in there.
I'm going to build an opera house in lquitos and Caruso'll open it.
It'll be the greatest opera the jungle have ever seen. Please, let us in there!
You'll work with us. Let us in, please.
Please!
I would like to be in there myself.
Make sure to be quiet and press yourselves right up against the wall.
He pointed to you. - Yeah, he did, didn't he.
And straight at me. You saw it, didn't you. - Yes.
He pointed to me.
Fitzcarraldo?
How do you spell it?
What an interesting name!
My daddy was Irish. My real name is Fitzgerald.
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald.
They had trouble saying it in Peru.
Fitzgerald? lquitos?
You're not the man with the railway, are you?
Yeah, that's me.
Well, yeah, the Trans-Andes Railway...
I'm sure you know the project fell through.
But the idea was a bold one. It's still lingering.
At the moment I'm trying my luck as an ice producer, to make money.
Here, what they want with all their money, is the great names of Europe.
Sarah Bernhardt, an actress who can't even sing.
But her wooden leg is the talk of the town.
The ice, ah, I mean... I'm doing all this...
Because I have one dream.
The opera.
The Great Opera in the Jungle!
Fitzcarraldo will build it and Caruso will sing at the premiere.
It's only the dreamers who move mountains.
For five years now we've been the richest town in the whole world.
It's like gold fever. Please?
Soon, this opera house could be too small.
Prices are ten times higher than in New York.
There are palaces being built with tiles from Delft and Florentine marble.
But lquitos is catching up.
It's still a filthy little town,
but the rubber business is growing by leaps and bounds.
The better-off citizens in Manaus, if I may put it this way,
they send their laundry to Lisbon
because the water of the Amazon River is felt to be impure.
Here we are, home again!
Did you miss me?
Aren't you going to stay?
I don't know. I don't really like this here...
Come on, It's not that bad.
I train the girls for the best households.
Much better than sending them out on the streets!
I've nothing against the girls, Molly.
It's just because I can't stand the sight of dandies who think
money can buy everything.
And the opera, I've got to work on this ice production.
Oh, really, you could take a crack at respectability, you know.
It wouldn't kill you.
Respectability just made me bankrupt. No, no.
I'm better off down there on the outskirts.
Got me real audience down there now.
- The kids? - Yeah, that's my public.
And a pig.
One of those lean racing pigs just loves me.
How could she help it?
When I build my opera house
I'll see to it you have your own box and a velvet armchair.
It works through the reaction of two different salts.
Just think what possibilities ice has, but people don't see it.
Look, the children love the ice.
Yeah, they eat it.
Imagine -
one day, ice on every ship, and every warehouse
Here you are.
Well, what do you think of it? - Well I'll tell you what I think.
In the first place, you can't have any patents,
cause the whole thing has been described...
in schoolbooks for the last hundred years.
I know, but I have the experience, and it's experience what counts.
Secondly, what good is ice here? To cool the rubber?
To put glaciers in the jungle!
Or to put the Trans-Andean railway on sled-runners,
And then the brakes go, and adios...
down into the valley!
Come on! Come on!
Don't take it to heart.
Here, use this.
Play a hand with us.
The precious feeling of losing money!
Nothing like it! Ecstasy!
This church remains closed till this town has its opera house.
I want the opera house!
I want my opera house!
I want to opera house!
This church remains closed till this town has an opera house!
I want my opera house!
I could have let you cool your heels in there for two weeks.
Thanks. Two days were enough.
Quite sure my lady had a hand in this.
I wouldn't know.
But come with me, I'll show you the real reason I'm letting you out so soon.
Come.
Well.
They've been there two days. They stay day and night.
Even a horse would be touched.
That won't be too hard to arrange.
All of them together, at the same time?
Don Aquilino, The Borja brothers and the rest of them?
I have my ways, don't worry.
I'll bring all my girls with me.
We'll have all the rubber barons gathering together like flies.
And I guarantee you, they'll be feeling good.
Marvellous! I'll bring my phonograph.
You need some sprucing up first.
And I'm not letting you out of my house like that.
A steam bath for Mr Fitzcarraldo! The full treatment.
And then deliver him to my bedroom. - Oh, come on, what are you doing?
Hey! Help!
Molly, tell them to stop it!
Everybody wants money.
The hospital, the fire brigade,
and now you keep bending my ear with your opera house.
It gives expression to our greatest feelings.
Our greatest feelings!
We can't afford everything!
Just take a look at this. - What?
Come over here!
Come a bit closer.
See how fast our money runs downstream?
You must have had the same experience.
A railway is sure to swallow up a lot of money.
How thrilling it must be to go bankrupt.
- Let's go back to our friends. - Yes!
Such a chance to meet all one's friends and rivals at the same place
does not present itself very often.
Rosita, over there!
Take the champagne, there!
Please, may we have your attention?
Come closer, please.
That's enough! Juan, take him out!
Please, please, please!
No, stop. Please, please, please!
Ladies and gentlemen, don't worry. Don't worry.
This gentleman is harmless.
He's just had a soul-stirring experience.
Sir!
My servants will conduct you to the kitchen.
My dogs' cook will prepare you a meal.
Thank you very much, sir, you were superb.
To your dogs' cook.
To Verdi.
To Rossini.
To Caruso.
To Fitzcarraldo, the Conquistador of the Useless!
Cheers!
As true as I am standing here,
one day I shall bring Grand Opera to lquitos.
I will outgut you!
I will outnumber you.
I will outbillion you.
I will outrubber you.
I will outperform you.
Sir...
The reality of your world is nothing more
than a rotten caricature of great opera.
Fitz, Fitz, let's go.
This man is no opponent. He's as dead as a doornail.
Madam, I'm still standing firm on both my legs.
You're a big game hunter, aren't you?
What's that got to do with it? - Then you should know.
When you shoot an elephant,
he sometimes stays on his legs for ten days before he topples over.
Good night!
Come on, Zulma, come on. This way! Come on!
Rubber. That's the way to do it!
That's where the real money is. Forget about ice!
You need a big steam-boat. You have to be able to supply
hundreds of workers in a large area. And most of all, you need land.
There must still be some left. They haven't grabbed it all up.
Believe me. I know what I'm saying.
How do you know?
Don Aquilino. He's been talking about it.
Then you can forget it.
Why don't you ask him then?
My territory begins right here where the Pongo ends.
And it reaches far away upstream for 80 miles.
- And above the Pongo? - I'd like to have that for myself.
We've thought about building a road across those mountains,
but that would be an impossible venture.
And there still wouldn't be a...
A ship?
And nobody has made it upstream?
Want to see for yourself? We could climb up there, if you want.
What's he saying?
We must be quiet.
He says, whoever talks will be swallowed up
by the evil spirits of the whirlpool.
The Indians call the rapids Chirimagua, "the angry spirits."
Anyone who falls in there is lost.
The bare-asses also say, "The water has no hair to hold on to."
ls this a rubber tree?
Right. Hevea brasiliensis.
They call the rubber tree caoutchou
"the tree that weeps."
These bare-asses love flowery language.
Gold, they call "sweat of the sun."
Bees, "fathers of honey."
You know, it's no easy job to discipline them, believe me.
How much do you think this stinking stuff weighs?
Sixty kilos!
And I presume you're familiar with the market price.
How long does it take to make one of them?
Three men, one week.
Presently I have a staff of 8,500.
But I am thinking of increasing it to ten.
You're an strange bird,
but I must say like you.
Here.
From the Pongo to the mouth of the Ucayali. That's my area.
Up there you see the Peruvian Amazon Company territory
a joint stock company,
and there, the Borja brothers.
What does that square mean?
That's the rubber region of the Ucayali, about 14 million trees.
It's the only area still unclaimed.
Because of the rapids of the Pongo das Mortes,
you'd have to have wings to fly into this area here.
Why is nothing marked up on the Pachitea?
No rubber trees, maybe a few, but not enough to make it worthwhile.
The only thing you'll find there are headhunters.
No rubber, no gold, no nothing.
The two rivers almost touch each other.
What?
How exact is this map? Is there anything more precise?
Oh, it's a pretty good map.
In 1896 a group of surveyors and soldiers got to the Upper Pachitea,
but most of them were murdered.
Then some missionaries got as far as Saramiriza,
that's their farthest settlement.
From there on you'll find only Jivaros and Campas.
Two padres ended up as shrunken heads.
Have you ever seen a shrunken head?
Yes,
I mean...
No, sort of.
- Have you made your choice? - I can't decide.
I think I take both of them.
- Molly! - What?
You've got to stake me. Every red cent you...
- Oh Fitz, not again!
I have an idea. An amazing idea!
Here, look. I have brought maps,
I can explain everything to you.
Here!
Well, first I have to contact a lawyer, then get a ship.
But my money is not going to buy you a ship, Fitz.
You'll manage all right.
The documents, please. Thank you.
Now then, the act of territorial acquisition works step by step.
First, you and your partner sign, then you pay the money
and I'll complete the document with my signature.
But before we do all this, I wish to direct your attention to the option clause.
What option clause?
Through its executive organs,
the Peruvian government is absolutely insistent with no exceptions,
that a region of this size be taken into possession
by deed and by proof within nine months time.
You will have to prove
that real operational steps have been taken to exploit the region.
Otherwise your right of exploitation will be terminated.
The point is that the state is concerned
that areas such as this are productively used by competent men of business
- so that they don't go to... - Come on, we're wasting time.
Can I ask you a question of a personal nature?
Do you really know what you're doing?
We're gonna do what nobody's ever done.
We're going to be very, very rich. - Yeah.
Well?
Right sir, sign on the dotted line.
That's it.
Oh, it's beautiful. - Yeah, that's it.
It's marvellous, Fitz.
How do you like it? - It's lovely.
Watch out here. It's very slippery.
This is the engine room.
Let's go up stairs.
The upper deck.
No, wait a moment.
Let me go first. - Yes.
To our contract! Come in, gentlemen.
Now that the purchase of my ship is settled,
let me be quite frank.
Sure.
True, I have forced you to take Cholo as your mechanic,
otherwise you wouldn't have gotten the ship.
I realise that.
He's a first-rate mechanic, I'll tell you that much.
And what else is he?
The reason behind it all, excuse my bluntness
is that I wish to be kept informed about the activities of our competitors.
We don't want our territories being contested.
Don't worry.
Every steamship owner is a potential enemy,
anyone with just a canoe can't hurt us. - Right.
You know, the two of us have a bet going
how long it will take until you go bankrupt.
Oh, please don't take it personally. We're all sportsmen, aren't we?
No, only one of us.
I shall move a mountain.
When is it gonna be ready?
Tomorrow.
No, for ten days you've been telling me tomorrow.
I hoped she'll be ready for launching. - Tomorrow!
I wonder what this character's really up to.
- What's your name? - Paul Resenbrink.
I'm Dutch.
But they call me Orinoco Paul
because I know every goddamn bend in that river.
You've sailed the river safely before?
Yes. My last ship was the Adolfo.
My eyesight isn't so good, but I cannot be fooled.
What do you mean?
The jungle plays tricks on your senses.
It's full of lies, demons, illusions.
I have learned to tell the difference between reality and hallucinations.
I see that you took part in the Pachitea expedition in '96.
Yes, as helmsman.
On the return trip I was the captain.
The captain died. There were only five survivors.
Paul Resenbrink, you have captain's authority.
Sit down and help me choose the crew.
We need strong, tough men.
Unfortunately, we won't find any good men here.
First of all we need a pilot.
Is anybody here with pilot experience?
Get back. Out of my way, you peanut! I'm Huerequeque.
Huerequeque.
Compadre. I am Huerequeque!
I am the best cook in the whole of the Amazon.
I have worked on every kind of ship there is.
And amigo...
I know what they say about me.
Huerequeque's a stupid drunkard.
But in here, positively electrico!
And also, I am the best gunman in the entire Amazon.
All right. What do you think of him? Wait!
Is he a good gunman? Let's try him. - He is a good gunman.
What was your name? Huere...
Huerequeque.
Huerequeque, you are our cook.
Try to understand. - Who bought the ship?
Who paid for all the equipment?
It is my right to come with you.
Molly, you can't leave the girls. What are they gonna do without you?
And what will I do without you?
I am coming back.
Fitz, do you love me?
You're my partner aren't you.
Fitz, you crazy fool!
Oh Fitz, it's fantastic!
It's your day, Molly!
All yours.
It's more than my poor little heart can stand.
Oh, my darling. I love you.
Now comes the official part.
Here. Throw it... hard!
I don't want those señoritas on board my ship.
These are my assistants. I cannot cook without them.
He's not going down to the Ucayali?
Why is he heading upstream?
I thought he was going to the Pongo das Mortes.
You saw it right.
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald is moving against the Amazon.
We're going upstream! What's the idea?
The idea is, we're going upstream.
And, from now on, you only leave the engine room if I say so.
Bastardo! What are you doing here? Get back inside where you belong!
Don Fitzcarraldo! Don Fitzcarraldo!
You're back! You're back!
I almost give up hope. But you're here!
Look there, the terminal is almost ready.
I see you've become a father.
Yah, Yah, Yah! I know you'd come back.
I work for six months, no money!
See, the station ready for business. I paint the window
every year, but it always gets dirty again
but wait till your train
cross the mountains from the Amazon,
then everything change.
Maybe then I can be paid some money
Yes, Don Fitzcarraldo?
Look, the cog-wheels are working.
The lock is working, but I have to confess something to you
I was... I had to sell a few little iron parts and a few tools
to unfriendly Indians to make machetes and other things.
You know, you can't get iron no place here!
The Indians come her during the night, and they steal it, and so I had to sell it.
If not, they come and murder you. They're worse than bandits!
I'm all alone out here! So what else could I do? Nothing! Nothing!
I thought you'd been sent home like everybody else.
Let me show you outside.
The rails reach deep in the jungle now.
Come let me show you. I protect the rails from the Indians.
Watch the snakes!
You see, first I fire up my generator,
and then, I connect a long electric wire.
Long... to the tracks,
When the Indians try to steal the rails
they get their fingers burned!
I kill snakes the same way, they turn to ashes.
Every year, I clean the engine
When will you start to build again, huh?
Well, the thing is, we've come here on a different project.
Our whole financial situation will change overnight, if it works.
What I want to say is that there...
we need the rails for another purpose.
No!
No! Not those rails! Not...
Not those rails!
Not from under the locomotive!
Don Fitzcarraldo!
Don Fitzcarraldo! Don Fitzcarraldo!
They're removing the rails.
From under the locomotive.
Leave the rails, so I can move the locomotive! Stop them please!
Hey!
Leave them under the loc! There's more in the forest!
Thank you, thank you, thank you - OK, it's OK. It's all right.
Thank you.
We should have reached the Pachitea a long time ago.
Well, we haven't.
But according to the map.
The map is not precise!
How can you be so sure about that?
No river tastes like the Pachitea. It's just ahead of us.
Mad.
What's going on here?
We're going up the Pachitea.
Is that so?
Where do we go?
Amigos, welcome to Pachitea!
Famous for it's native hospitality.
Something is brewing down below.
They don't seem to agree with the course we're taking.
What?
I told you in lquitos I need men, not make-toasts who shit in their pants.
Now...
Whoever wants to go back, step forward.
Welcome to Saramiriza!
Welcome!
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald.
We thought you were a government commission - Hello padre.
No-one else ever comes here. - Hello, welcome my friend.
Welcome, welcome. - Hello padre.
Welcome. - Hello. Hello father.
Thank you, thank you.
How can anyone learn patriotism from a school book?
The Government requires it.
The natives get used to it, like vaccination.
The children already feel like little Peruvians.
The other day I asked them, "Are you Indians?"
"No," they said, "not we, the ones up the river, they are Indians."
And then I asked, "What are Indians?"
They said to me, "Indians are people who can't read"
"and who don't know how to wash their clothes."
And what about the older people?
Well...
We can't seem to cure them of the idea
that our everyday life is only an illusion
behind which lies, the reality of dreams.
Actually I am very interested in these ideas.
I specialize in opera myself.
What do you know about the Jivaros on the upper course?
I was there during the disaster in '96.
Have you had any contact since then?
Yes, some years ago, two of our brothers set off with some natives.
One of them came back a few days later
and said the Jivaros had withdrawn deep into the forest.
The expedition vanished without a trace.
Then a few weeks later, one of our brothers was washed up.
He was already rotting away, and his head was gone.
Anyway, what do you want up there?
I'm planning something geographical.
Quiet down, you drunken idiots! Stop it!
You have to crack down on the men, or you can find yourself a new captain.
What's the matter, who is it?
Evaristo Chavez and Fabiano, the Brazilian.
They're the main ones.
And the señoritas, they must be put ashore immediately.
And Huerequeque, he's smart but not to be trusted.
Your services no longer required here.
You have got two minutes to get your things. Exactly 120 seconds.
You'll see, we're the lucky ones!
You too!
Come on, move!
Take care of the rest!
And all of you, back to work.
Go on!
Reduce speed! Half-speed ahead!
What are the men doing?
They've armed themselves.
On no account are they to try to shoot.
That was our mistake on the first expedition.
Go down and tell them that, or there'll be a disaster.
What the hell are you doing?
Just trying to have a conversation with our invisible friends.
We'll pay for this with our heads. You too.
There is silences and silences.
This is the kind I don't like.
There's something on the water.
Where?
Something black, floating towards us.
What's an umbrella doing here?
It must have belonged to one of the missionaries the Jivaros killed.
Strange.
It might be a last warning, from the gentlemen in the forest.
They love such gestures.
Now it's Caruso's turn.
Do you see the Indians in the canoe?
Could that be a trap?
It does not look like one.
No, I don't think so.
They would attack at night. And in bigger groups.
Shall we stop and try to make contact?
No, don't stop. They would not talk to us anyway.
Something's moving there.
Those bare-asses have never heard music like that.
That will teach them to respect us.
Tell me everything you know about them.
Everything depends on how we behave.
These Jivaro people left the interior of Brazil about 300 years ago.
For ten generations they've been wandering through the jungle
looking for a a white God in a sacred boat.
And they believe at the end of their pilgrimage the white God
will show them a land without sorrow, without death,
where people stay young forever.
We are gonna take advantage of this myth.
What the hell has that got to do with us?
If a bare-ass gets too close to me, I'll let him have it, smack between the eyes.
This God doesn't come with canons.
He comes with the voice of Caruso.
Your loyal crew has deserted you.
That finishes this journey.
Why didn't you go with them?
Because I want this whole damned ship to turn back.
Don't tangle with me. I'll do what I like around here.
Just keep the engine running.
Shit!
Suddenly they came out of nowhere. Damn bastards!
I told you all along they were good for nothing.
They'll never make it out of here.
There's three of us left. You, me and Cholo.
What, him?
Now we need some Italian opera,
very much.
Well gentlemen, that's the end of it.
180 degrees. Can we do that here?
We can.
Forget it.
What?
Turn around.
Do you see what I see?
Just what we needed!
Breaking through there would be the end of us.
There's just one way to go... straight ahead.
- You better pull ashore.
Go down to the engine room, very casual understand.
They've all got bows and arrows.
But they're keeping their distance. Ever seen this before?
No, never.
Damn it, now they are blocking the way.
Are they still there?
Even more of them now.
Maybe a hundred canoes.
Give me a shout when the party starts.
I wanna brighten up my last hour with a little fireworks.
Amigos, it's about time you got here.
Over here, bare-asses.
Come and have a drink.
Where'd you come from? - I was sleeping.
Where are the others? Have they quit?
I knew they would. Those damn cowards, degenerates!
Shut up!
What do they say?
They're talking about our boat. The "sacred boat" with the white God,
from whom they expect salvation.
They believe that there is a curse on this whole territory.
They know we are not gods, but the boat has impressed them.
But why play flutes? Huh! I wonder what they want?
My friends, I think we will continue.
See the red cliff, below the trees on the right hand side?
Yes, I see it.
That must be it.
Good. We can't go much further, or we'll run onto a sandbank.
That slope may look insignificant,
but's gonna be our destiny.
Hurry up, follow me!
Now he's showing his cards.
This is it.
This is what we were looking for.
This? Here?
Do we have to climb a tree in order for you imbeciles to understand what we are doing?
We'll build a nice lookout for these gentlemen, up there.
I don't believe it.
There's the Ucayali.
All the river above Pongo das Mortes belongs to us.
I knew it, I knew it. We are going to build a tunnel for the railway to go through.
No, no.
We're going to drag that ship over the mountain.
And the bare-asses are going to help us.
How in hell are you going to do that?
Just like the cow jumped over the moon.
I like this.
I'm with you.
Yeah!
Now what is it?
I still don't understand what you've got in mind.
Come in. I'll show you.
This...
is the Amazon.
Here is lquitos.
This...
is the Ucayali.
Right?
And this...
is the Pachitea.
Now...
we went upstream, up the Amazon...
and up the Pachitea.
Here is, where we are right now,
and where we will drag the ship over the mountain.
From here to here, the ship...
will collect the rubber of thousands of workers.
Why didn't we move up the Ucayali?
Because of the Pongo das Mortes.
Nobody will ever make it through those rapids.
Yes, but how do you get the rubber to lquitos?
We need another ship.
We carry the rubber back over the mountain and build a settlement here.
Soon we'll be so rich we'll have all the ships we need to take it to lquitos.
I explained our project to him. - What's the answer?
He said yes.
A little more to the left!
A little more. Stop!
A little more to the left!
A little more.
Stop!
A little more. All right! Stop!
- That wasn't a bad start.
There are even two young boys here. It's a good sign.
What do you think, Paul will the Indians stick with us?
You can't tell what they really think.
But how in the hell are you gonna get that ship over the hill?
If nothing else works, then we'll make a tunnel.
I could do it alone
if I had a perfect pulley system.
But I would need ten miles of rope and it would take me ten weeks
to pull the ship ten inches.
Well we haven't got that much time.
We have seven more months before the option runs out.
We have a steam winch and the force of hundreds of Indians.
We gonna drag that ship over the mountain.
Who are your little friends?
McNamara! McNamara is my butler.
And this is El Comandante.
Salut pour ti, McNamara.
This is much steeper than I thought.
Now with trees down,
you can see how steep it is.
We have to level the ground, build a ramp.
And up there we'll have to make a cut through to the top.
- That could take months. - Dynamite!
I hope we have enough dynamite.
No, I would not recommend it.
We have no choice.
Take cover!
Watch out! Danger!
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hold it, hold it!
Where you going?
Go back. Go back to work. Come on.
Come on. Go back to work.
Huerequeque!
The logs, down here, come on.
Give him a hand, come on.
How can this trunk withstand the pull of hundreds of tons?
It can. See how deep we have anchored it in the ground.
This wood has the strength of iron.
Bring it down here!
Huerequeque, come with me.
Now clear them. Clear them over to the other side. Understand?
Now all of you. Go on. Go over there!
If we had known that you thought
that you can move the boat on railroad tracks,
I could have told you right away
to leave them at your Amazon terminal.
Too bad I can't help you.
I drank too much last night.
Shouldn't we tell him that it melts, there will be nothing left of it?
There is no word for ice in their language.
That's enough, out, out. Get out of there!
Give it a go!
Pull harder!
Try it again!
There she goes!
It works!
- It works! - It works!
Watch out! Careful!
They've been standing like that for two days and nights, staring at the water.
I'm sure it's because of the terrible accident.
I cannot get anything out of them.
And?
- They're gone. - All?
They' have really all gone?
What do you know?
I had this feeling, so I went outside.
Not a soul, nothing. They've all disappeared.
That can mean a lot of things.
It could mean that they'll attack us, but we've no way of defending ourselves.
Everyone has deserted us, except McNamara.
And for that he'll be made Chief one day.
They're back, as if they'd never been gone.
Don't ask me for an explanation.
We have two dead men.
I can't believe in this crazy thing Huerequeque has thought up.
Amigos, the engine is running.
Now that is what I call brainwork. - We have two dead men!
We could start up the engine and drive the anchor winch off it.
That way the ship will be wound up the mountain under its own power!
Now, what do you say to that?
There! You see that?
There are times when a peasant's brain is good for something.
You're not a peasant!
You're the smartest bastard on God's earth.
- But we forgot something. - What?
Caruso! Enrico Caruso!
Why are they doing all this?
Why are they working like horses for us?
Why?
Why? Why?
Why?
- I don't know. I really don't know.
The only thing I know is, that there must be a reason for it.
I'm sure of it.
They're planning something. Yes.
You must drink it.
It is yucca, with fermented saliva.
Go on, drink!
My God, time flies and we are getting nowhere.
Something is up.
The men are preparing barbasco, a very strong poison.
And they are painted black.
But most are hiding in the woods and they are armed.
What does that mean?
It means that they now believe they are invisible.
They do that only when they go hunting or when they going off to war.
Shouldn't we return to the ship and load the rifles.
No, we would not stand a chance.
They are definitely planning something.
Most likely, they are trying to calculate the exact size of our heads.
I think we are safe for now.
How do you know?
There's a sign.
Look!
See those hands on the railing?
What's happened?
The Pongo! We're drifting into the Pongo!
Cholo!
Paul! Cholo!
I must stop the ship!
The Pongo! We're drifting into the Pongo!
Open the boiler, quick! The valves first!
Oh God! My ship!
Damn it.
Now it's too late.
Do you know what he says?
He says that last night they untied the boat.
They knew all along the sacred boat was only dragged over the mountain
because it had to drift free through the Pongo.
It had to be done to soothe the evil spirits of the rapids.
I must stop my ship.
First of all, have a drink.
Running the Pongo with a steamship
is a record that will never be repeated. Quite spectacular!
Here, have a drink.
Magnificent gentlemen, magnificent!
Here.
Here's to the soothing of the evil spirits of the Pongo.
I will tell you something.
At the time when North America was hardly explored,
one of those early French trappers went west from Montreal.
He was the first white man to set eyes on Niagara Falls.
When he returned, he told of waterfalls more vast and immense
than people had ever dreamed of.
No one believed him.
They thought he was a madman or a liar.
They asked him, "What's your proof?"
He answered...
"My proof is..."
"I've seen them."
I'm sorry.
I don't know what that has to do with me.
What will you do next?
I don't know.
I'm asking because I'm interested in buying the boat back.
My business has been expanding lately.
The damage could be repaired in a few days.
Oh, I assure you, I don't mean to exploit your delicate situation.
From Manaus, we've received news that a European opera company
is giving a guest performance there.
I think you ought to go.
They say there's such a fantastic German composer.
One of the very modern ones.
Federico, Roberto, Ricardo... What's his name, Ricardo?
Wagner?
The one who wrote Parsifal. - Oh, I would say so.
Very Teutonic, his music.
And the name of the Opera is "The Puritans".
No, that's an Italian opera by Bellini.
Tell me...
you mean that about the boat?
Huerequeque, come here!
Ho!
Come here. - Coming.
My friends, the new owner of the Molly Aida.
Don't worry, we have the ship for two more weeks.
- Paul, listen. - We hate to give her away.
Nice work. You travel to Manaus with all this money.
Bring me a tailcoat and the best cigar in the world.
And from the theatre I want an armchair with red velvet upholstery.
I made a promise to a pig that loves Caruso very much.
And then...