Narrative: Lost in La Mancha (2002) Review

Fig.1 Lost in La Mancha Poster

 

Lost In La Mancha is more than just a documentary. It is the tale of Director Terry Gilliam and his burning ambition to bring his version of the tale of Don Quixote to the big screen. A 16th century classic story by Miguel de Cervantes about a delusional old man with a head full of  fantasies, who goes on a quest accompanied by his horse, to battle the evils of the world with a sensible squire to guide him through reality.

Fig.2 Lost in La Mancha Film Still

In August 2000, master filmmaker Terry Gilliam finally got his opportunity to create his dream film he had been working on for a decade, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. However for all his creativity and enthusiasm, the film immediately run into a series of disasters that threaten the production of the film. Terry Gilliam, from the very start of his career, has had a hell of a time catching a break, earning a reputation as a director who’s reached far exceeds his grasp. At the same time, however, he is a filmmaker blessed with undeniable talent and vision, and even his weakest films have a flair that’s missing in many other movies. "But as directors Louis Pepe and Keith Fulton prove in their documentary Lost in La Mancha, all the ambition in the world can’t compete with an aggressive bout of bad luck." (Cherington,2011)

Fig.3 Lost in La Mancha Film Still

 

As a film project, Quixote already seemed to be cursed. Orson Welles started shooting a version in 1957 and sweated over it for two decades. Gilliam himself had traveled a long road to get to shooting, with several false starts, until the summer of 2000. American documentaries Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe were on hand with complete access to everyone involved, to capture the story of Gilliam’s attempt to create Don Quixote.  It was planned to be the most expensive film ever produced solely with European funding. But shooting only lasted a mere six days before the project was abandoned. Gilliam attempts to create Lost in La Mancha offers an astonishing insight to the affects that a directors ambitions can have on a movie. "Lost in La Mancha offers astonishing insights into the irresponsible way big-budget pictures are made nowadays, and the currently chaotic state of the capitalist system." (French,2002)

Fig.4 Lost in La Mancha Film Still

“Many difficult and ambitious filmmakers—Coppola, Herzog, Orson Welles—are, like Don Quixote himself, forever charging at imaginary giants. In the case of Terry Gilliam, it would appear that the giants are all too real.” (Cherington,2011)

Bibliography

Cherington, Sam (2011) To Film the Impossible Film- Lost in La Mancha (2002)http://thesamwithnoname.com/2011/01/31/to-film-the-impossible-film-%E2%80%93-lost-in-la-mancha-2002(Accessed on 11/10/2011)

Cherington, Sam (2011) To Film the Impossible Film- Lost in La Mancha (2002) http://thesamwithnoname.com/2011/01/31/to-film-the-impossible-film-%E2%80%93-lost-in-la-mancha-2002/ (Accessed on 11/10/2011)

http://www.documentaryfilms.net/Reviews/LostInLaMancha/

List Of Illustrations

Figure.1 Lost in La Mancha (2002) Lost in La Mancha Film Poster. http://thesamwithnoname.com/2011/01/31/to-film-the-impossible-film-%E2%80%93-lost-in-la-mancha-2002/ (Accessed on 14/10/2011)

Figure.2 Lost in La Mancha (2002) Lost in La Mancha Film Still. http://www.over-blog.com/ (Accessed on 14/10/2011)

Figure.3 Lost in La Mancha (2002) Lost in La Mancha Film Still. http://thecia.com.au/reviews/l/lost-in-la-mancha.shtml (Accessed on 14/10/2011)

Figure.4 Lost in La Mancha (2002) Lost in La Mancha Film Still. http://getfilm.co.uk/film.php?id=21189 (Accessed on 14/10/2011)

French, Philip (2002)Down the shoot (Lost in La Mancha) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/aug/04/philipfrench (Accessed on 11/10/2011)