USA,
1989, 121 min
Shown in 1989
CREDITS
- dir
-
Terry Gilliam
- prod
-
Thomas Schühly
- scr
-
Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown
- cam
-
Giuseppe Rotunno
- cast
-
John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Valentina Cortese, Jonathan Pryce, Uma Thurman, Oliver Reed, Bill Paterson
- source
-
Columbia Pictures
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Opening Night film.
OTHER
A ride on a cannonball. A trip to the moon. A journey into the crater of a volcano. An undersea voyage in the belly of a giant fish. The fantastic voyages of Baron Munchausen (1720–97), history's most famous spinner of outlandish yarns, have inspired many a film. But ever since Terry Gilliam succeeded in creating such enormously outsized visionary entertainments as Time Bandits and Brazil, it has been clear that he would be the perfect moviemaker to take on the challenge of doing right by the Baron. And with this new, multimillion-dollar spectacle, he triumphs in a big way. It has been years—maybe not since we were all kids—that a movie has so magically transported us away from mundane reality into the realms of imagination. In an 18th-century European city besieged by the Turkish army, a down-at-the-heels acting troupe presents a farcical interpretation of the Baron's escapades. Their performance is interrupted by an old man (John Neville) who totters down the aisle, shouting "Lies! Lies! Lies!" This gentleman in his faded uniform claims to be the real Munchausen, though only ten-year-old Sally (Sarah Polley) believes him. But when threatened by renewed bombardment, the citizens must pay attention to the gentleman's promise: He will save the city if the town's gentlewomen give up their silken knickers.Thus begins a wonderfully fantastic voyage. Its production difficulties and budget excesses trade paper fodder for months, the completed film will—mirabile dictu!—confound the many skeptics who must have plagued Gilliam's path. Surely Munchausen speaks in part for him when, reproached for his faulty grasp on reality, he retorts: "Reality, sir, is all lies and balderdash, and I am glad I have no grasp of it whatever." This is a movie that may have a difficult time finding its audience. It's too filled with a sense of wonder to satisfy those who think violence and cynicism are requisites for "adult" entertainment. At the same time, while kids may love it, most of the referential humor of the film will sail right past them. But it's a sweepingly bold entertainment, whose imaginative audacity will often take your breath away. It makes a fitting opening to a festival, one of whose proudest aims is to celebrate the power of film to widen our horizons.
—Peter Scarlet, Laura Thielen
FACTOID #75
Italian screen siren and ’60s sex symbol Sophia Loren appeared in two films screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival: Ettore Scola’s A Special Day in 1977 and Francesco Rosi’s More Than a Miracle in 1981.
