LOST IN LA MANCHA
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Terry Gilliam is the center of attention in this documentary about the making of another film. The film being made, or rather failing to be made, was THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. The film was never made and this film documents why not. It is a primer in the frustrations of the filmmaking business and how to mismanage the making of a film. This is a film that shows why someone would not want to work for Terry Gilliam, and why they would. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to +4)
This is a documentary made for the Independent Film Channel that was originally intended to be THE MAKING OF THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. It was to be shown at the same time Terry Gilliam released the film THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. If the title is not familiar, it is because the film never got made. That film died a lingering death after two weeks of disastrous shooting that included shots ruined by the Spanish Air Force, an incredible flash flood that washed away the entire set, the leading man being hospitalized with injuries that precluded him riding a horse again, and other fiascos too numerous to be mentioned. Gilliam continues to labor on in his own quixotic manner.
Gilliam's mind is the real star of the documentary. It is constantly active coming up with new creative ideas. Normally a virtue, this turns out to be very trying on his co-workers. At one telling point, one of his staff trying to create the things Gilliam describes testily tells Gilliam to cut off the ideas. Sometimes the ideas become too much for the quality of the story. This film will have a modern man going back in time and meeting Quixote. I personally prefer my Quixote with no time travelers unless Cervantes mentioned them. And he didn't.
In my opinion, Don Quixote is the wrong subject for Terry Gilliam. The novel has one well-known half-way visual scene. Most of the sequences are humorous talking head pieces. Gilliam's forte is very visual stories. He would have to do a lot of inventing of things not in the novel. Using a time travel frame and add a character not in the original subverts the purpose of the work. He may have been adding several sequences around Quixote, but they would be newly re-imagined and written. Perhaps it would work, but it would be surprising. The Baron Munchausen stories are more visual and even so they did not really work when Gilliam adapted them.
With Jeff Bridges's narration and to the accompaniment of Gilliam-style animation at times, the documentary follows the production as it little by little comes together. The problem is that it is too little by too little. Gilliam keeps having new ideas but does not have the budget to create them. Schedules are set assuming everybody will be available just at the right time and resources will be completed and ready when needed. Gilliam leaves himself highly dependent on good luck. Gilliam himself looks at this like it is insane, but in his world that is a compliment. Then when he shoots he runs into a string of bad planning and bad luck. The whole production is washed out. In part literally. Then we see what happens after the failure.
The most amazing thing about the whole experience was Gilliam's attitude when they brought him out afterward. We had just seen a documentary in which everything that could go wrong did. I expected that Gilliam would be a little bitter or at least depressed. As far as he is concerned the project is still alive and--oh boy--he is going to go out and make his Quixote project. He now is more enthusiastic than he appeared at any time in the documentary. Gilliam loves making films only love it a little less when the project goes agonizingly wrong. I was a lot more impressed with him after seeing his errors and his attitude than I was before I had seen either. This is a man who should be making films. I rate this view of the man a 6 on the 0 to 10 a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
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