water drilling competition

His documentaries obsessively explore human ambition and the struggle against nature's extremes, as seen in films like 'Aguirre' and 'Fitzcarraldo' where characters pursue impossible feats.

His neorealist works document the grinding labor and desperation of working-class people competing for survival and dignity through difficult manual work.

His social realist films chronicle the competitive struggles of ordinary workers fighting for employment and resources in harsh industrial and economic systems.