Les Blank’s documentary about Werner Herzog’s making of Fitzcarraldo was released on 30 May 1982, about 2 months after the release of Herzog’s film.
The making of Burden of Dreams was almost as troubled and chaotic as Herzog’s production, with Blank becoming exhausted and ultimately indifferent to Herzog and his challenges in completing his film (Blank feared winding up “like some Viet Nam veterans, horribly calloused”) and admitted, "I'm tired of it all and I couldn't care less if they move the stupid ship – or finish the fucking film.”
According to Paul Arthur’s essay for Criterion, “in 1982, the making-of was not yet the standard practice it has become in mainstream cinema,” and many critics not only thought that Blank created a better film than his subject, but also one of the best film documentaries of all time.
