THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN
Film comment by Thomas E. Billings
Copyright 1989 Thomas E. Billings
U.K., 1989, color, 121 minutes.
Director: Terry Gilliam Producer: Thomas Schuhly Screenplay: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown Principal cast: John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Valentina Cortese, Uma Thurman, Oliver Reed, Bill Paterson, Alison Steadman Production Company: Prominent Features/Laura Film Released by: Columbia Pictures
This highly publicized movie (set for national release beginning Friday, March 10) largely lives up to the publicity preceding its release. The story deals with Baron Munchausen, one of the most famous liars ("storytellers") in history, and his fantastic exploits. The story begins in an unspecified European city in the late 18th century. The city is under siege by the Turks, and is in grave danger of falling. A traveling theater company is performing the story of the adventures of Baron Munchausen in the city, when their performance is interrupted by an old man claiming to be the real Baron Munchausen.
The real Baron proceeds to tell his stories, and they are fantastic indeed. As the film progresses, the Baron has one adventure after another. He wins a treasure in a bet with a Sultan (using the super-powers of his companions); he goes for a ride on two cannonballs; he goes to the moon on a hot-air balloon (made exclusively from women's lingerie); he falls into a volcano, meets Vulcan the god of war, romances his wife (Venus, the god of love), etc. These adventures take place at a very fast pace.
The film is laced with the great sense of humor (warped?) that characterized the other films of Director Terry Gilliam (TIME BANDITS, BRAZIL). Some examples: when the Baron first encounters Vulcan the god of war (played by Oliver Reed in an excellent performance), he is having labor troubles with his workers, and is negotiating a "work contract" with them. Vulcan, as portrayed by Reed, comes across sounding and acting like a harassed British shop supervisor (the humor is subtle, but very good). Robin Williams appears as the King of the Moon, in a manic performance that is -- surprise -- very funny (Robin Williams is one comedian I generally can't stand. For me to actually like his performance is most unusual!). Oh yes, the King and Queen of the Moon have detachable heads, which fly around independent of their bodies (which are off doing "bodily functions").
On a deeper level, the film deals with the issues of fantasy vs. reality, truth and fiction, life and death, youth and old age. Throughout the film the Baron is pursued by a ghoul-like figure that represents death. These issues are dealt with in a layered fashion, and are illustrated to varying degrees in the fantastic exploits of the Baron.
From a non-intellectual viewpoint, the film is simply loads of fun. You don't need to intellectualize, just sit back and enjoy the Baron's utterly fantastic adventures! Stylistically and thematically, the film is closer to TIME BANDITS than it is to BRAZIL. It is fairly safe to say that most fans of either film (TIME BANDITS, BRAZIL) will like THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.
Overall evaluation: excellent; worth seeing.
Reviewer: Thomas E. Billings; Department of Statistics University of California, Berkeley Reviewer contact: teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU
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