Burden of Dreams (1982)
Directed by Les Blank
The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.
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What critics compared Burden of Dreams to
The exception is director Werner Herzog: he and his work are more thoroughly incorporated into the film, with Greg and Earl watching Burden Of Dreams; Greg channelling Herzog's voice when he's toying with the idea of writing a personal essay for college admission.
His only friend is a kid named Earl (RJ Cyler), who he refers to more as a “co-worker” given that they make short films together and avoid the high school social scene by hanging out in the office of their history teacher ( Jon Bernthal ), watching “ Burden of Dreams .”
Though Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is a sop to film buffs, with references ranging from Burden Of Dreams to Taxi Driver and beyond, the nearest point of comparison for its cancer story is The Fault In Our Stars , which is less hip, but more honest and moving about the “grenade”-like effect that caring for a terminal child can have on those around her.
There is passing reference to Mayan gods and legends, but primarily, Gibson is busy cataloging gazillion ways to die in the jungle; it's as if he wanted to dramatize Werner Herzog's famous speech from Burden of Dreams : "Nature here is vile and base....