4 out of 5

Director: Terry Gilliam

I think it could be easily argued that Gilliam’s entire directorial career has played with the battle of fantasy versus reality to a greater or lesser degree, depending on how full of love or hate he is at the time of a film’s creation.  As Eric Idle mentions in some of the extras for Munchausen, Gilliam is always hesitant to fully allow emotion on the screen without covering it or layering it in some way – this, combined with his meticulous and yet shambling sensibilities – always, to me, prevents his films from quite getting to the point I think they’re trying to make.  It’s also why Baron Munchausen is one of his best films, as it’s the perfect outlet for these methods.  Regardless of our awareness of Munchausen in literary history (I had no idea who the character was), we get that he stands in for all things fantastic that we let slip away as we grow older – our grasp of fairy-tale logic, our belief in pure evil and good.  In grand Gilliam layers, we come into a play about Munchausen being put on in the midst of a war during the, ahem “Age of Reason,” which the “real” Munchausen interrupts to set the record straight… and ends up getting re-involved in the adventures for which he’s known, a young Sarah Polley in tow.  Are we then watching real events?  A dream?  A story being told?  And thus the thrill of the film, because unlike other Gilliam productions, where you’re forced to ask yourself this through the movie, the story perfectly lends itself to surrealism.  This was also a perfect point between movie technology and computer – the much later Imaginarium is a similar film to this, but sort of hampered by its reliance on CGI.  There were many budget woes with Baron (if you have the desire to watch the extras on the disc, they cover this well), and some of the edges show, but otherwise I’m STILL amazed at how huge these sets and ideas are, and how well they’re committed to screen using practical devices.  Some pacing problems and Terry’s still Python-influenced manner of brushing away some plot aspects as nonsense cause Baron to stumble here and there, but major passages of the film are simply breath-taking and moving.

I watched the bluray, by the way, and typical of older up-conversions, there are definitely some moments that just don’t benefit from the transfer, the clarity of picture not helping with the graininess that was actually better suited to poorer quality.  But for the majority of the film, the colors and production design pops so much in HD that it’s drool-inducing.  If you are planning on owning this film, the BD is definitely worth it, though, I believe, the extras are about the same, save a “during movie” ‘extra pieces’ thing that I didn’t do because I hate the way those interrupt the film (I used those during Verbinski’s Pirates trilogy) and they rarely offer information that isn’t covered in either commentary or in other extras, just some new angles or pieces they cut out of other documentaries.  Maybe I missed out by not viewing it here, but even if you told me so, I’m busy raiding your fridge and shtupping your dog, so I don’t care.

Is that how we spell shtupping?

DISTRACTION now I’m doing it to your cat.  See?  Don’t care.