“A Heartbreaking
Work About a Staggering Genius” or When the Hand that Feeds You Bites Back.
A Review/Ponderance of Lost in La Mancha by Mike Meyer
I love Terry Gilliam. One of filmmaking’s true madmen. Each
one of his films is a love song to unbridled imagination. And each documentary
about the making of Terry’s films (and there’s been quite a few) is
a David and Goliath story about the little unhinged storyteller smashing the soulless
Hollywood producers with ambitious ideas and designs that people love but the
producers won’t acknowledge. However, this documentary was a bit different
than the others. There are the obvious differences (festival release, the
movie its about was never finished, etc.), but one difference stands out among
all. It’s probably the most unexplored, yet disheartening elements
of a Gilliam backstory to date. It’s that sometimes the little guy
does get squashed flat and even sadder is that Terry, a now accomplished film
director, is more of a Goliath, smashing all around him as he falls to Earth.
After being refused funding from any major studio, Terry Gilliam sought out all
foreign investors for his film Who Killed Don Quixote? the story of the historical
figure and his adventures with an ad executive from the future who he mistakes
as his sidekick Sancho Panza. Terry did this obviously to get his dream
film made with little interference from money people. But what followed
was probably the biggest filmmaking debacle since Heaven’s Gate or Fitzcarraldo.
Everything from poor organization to nature’s cruelty cursed this film with
such brutal tenacity that it shut down production after only a week. I knew
the film was going to end sadly, but never how I expected. Sure I expected
Terry to say that he’d stop at nothing to get this film made. But
there was a lot more at stake that I had anticipated. I’ll get to
that in a second.
The film beautifully captures the essence of Gilliam, using Gilliam’s own
sketches and animation to illustrate points and even brilliantly comparing the
curse of Gilliam’s production to that of Don Quixote himself. As with
Hamster Factor, the filmmaker’s got right into the heart of all matters,
good or bad…or rather…bad or worse. And to balance it, the filmmakers
made sure to include some instances where they succeeded like the test screenings
of the giants that are supposed to chase down and eat Don Quixote. These
scenes were the bright points of the movie and showed Terry at his maddest and
brightest. I won’t give too much away here, as I’d like all
of you to be surprised by how strangely hilarious and beautiful these scenes are.
Not to be outdone, the real tragic, heartbreaking scenes are just as hilarious.
Hilarious in a “you are shitting me” sort of way. Everything
from NATO jets flying over the location to a mild summer shower that turns into
a torrential downpour, flooding the location and wrecking millions of dollars
worth of equipment. These obstacles turn into sky-high brick walls when
after all this damage has been done, the insurance company unable to cover the
damages because “Acts of God” aren’t covered, and the studio
is forced to sell the rights of the film to the insurance company to cover the
loss. The film is left in shambles and we feel bad for Terry, but like we
did before. Here Terry has quite a bit of power, but refuses to take responsibility
in many respects. I’m sure that nothing really could have ultimately
saved his film, but Terry didn’t allow it to have a fighting chance.
In many ways, he used his power to become a spoiled bully, pushing around people
trying to help him and scoffing at their efforts while at the same time defending
people that ruined the movie outright. Now before you scoff, let me defend
myself.
Chuck Roven, producer of 12 Monkeys, said something in the 12 Monkey’s doc
The Hamster Factor that initially made me hate Chuck with a passion, but after
Lost in La Mancha, it started to make sense. To paraphrase, he said that
though Terry would like to think of himself as this independent spirit, he needs
Hollywood because no one else has the money or patience to faciliate his giant
ideas. True, but Chuck’s missing another element that Terry thrives
on that Hollywood provides in spades: angst. It was stated in Lost in La
Mancha too that Terry needs angst to fuel his tenacity to accomplish the impossible,
and because he is who he is, Terry can only get that in Hollywood. If you
look at it, Terry could never be considered an independent filmmaker. He
has the divergent ideas, but could he survive with a small budget and no studio
behind him to piss him off? I doubt it. Terry’s mindset is so
tuned to “No Compromise” that often he ignores the idea of making
something work rather and just scraps decent, workable ideas completely in search
of the ideal. And this is fine and even admirable when he’s looking
to rape the system back in Hollywood, but in Spain? Where they have about
$32 million period? Not for one film, but for pretty much everything?
That’s just mean. Sure, it’s a huge paradox/pickle when you’re
making your dream film and you have to stay within the lines financially, but
let’s grow up. These people are taking a chance on Terry, offering
him all they can, and not only does he say it’s not good enough, he constantly
trashes morale by bitching and moaning and constantly saying “We’re
fucked.” I remember one “fucked” line specifically:
“I mean we’ve had to cut the budget to $32 million. We’re
so fucked.” For someone weened on the story of the independent, making
great features for less than $1 million, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
I love Terry’s films, but a director has to be a leader as well as a visionary.
And his defeatist attitude from the start seemed to all but doom the movie further.
But is this what people want? A more centered and logical Terry Gilliam?
No way in hell. You want this guy to win at all costs. You want to
see this movie and you want this lovable crazy guy, this thinking man’s
Ozzie Osbourne, to see success without changing who he is. Because really
at the end of the day, that’s why we love the guy. It’s his
madness that’s at the heart of everything he does and to take that away
would be murder. The film compares Gilliam to Quixote in this respect, saying
that both do get the shit kicked out of them, but it would be more unbearable
to watch them wise up, get serious, and get sane. Practicality would ruin
this man’s work, and faith in the frivolous, silly, and over-the-top would
flounder as a result.
In the end, just pray for Terry and hope that this is only the end of a heart-wrenching
Act II and that Terry will make us all feel like noble kings and valiant knights
of yore one more time.
respond to mike@filmbrats.com
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