Lost In La Mancha

Grade: B-

D.H. Pennebaker (“Company,” “War Room,” “Moon Over Buffalo”) has nothing to worry about, but this is still a fun and reasonably engaging “insiders” documentary at how when things go wrong making a movie, they REALLY go wrong. For a decade, Director Terry Gilliam struggled to find financing to put his vision of “Don Quixote” on the big screen, especially difficult since his previous work, “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” proved a legendary flop. Settling for far too little money, an often less-than A-list production team, and an elderly French movie actor with exceedingly poor English skills (and no Spanish accent whatsoever), the film was such a disaster begging to happen it astonishes one that nobody involved saw the train wreck coming. And come it did. Less than a week into production, plagued by rampant flash flooding, jets flying overhead from a local military base, and the ill health of his leading man, Gilliam was forced to shut down production, never to regain his footing and commence with the project.

While there is the repeatedly hapless mention of the “curse of Don Quixote” and the fact that several other filmed versions met a similar fate, this seems more the story of a director with a grand vision and little control over his own project. Gilliam seems chagrined every time disaster strikes – leading ladies who fail to sign contracts, renting what turns out to be the worst sound stage in Spain, insurance coverage that doesn’t seem to cover anything – yet utterly unable to show any leadership and take the directorial reigns of power. He defends his first assistant director when the hawks (also known as producers) begin looking for someone to blame, and proceeds to ignore the AD’s every shred of advice. It all begins to feel unbelievably typical.

Unfortunately, a film that ends before it really begins doesn’t leave one with much documentary footage, and far too much of this film depends on animated exposition and some rather droning production conversations. One also can’t help but be surprised by the utter lack of enthusiasm provided by many present, most notably the cast who apparently took pay cuts to make the film happen in the first place. Johnny Depp’s boredom (as Sancho Panza – are you kidding me?) is palpable, and the leading lady never seems to bother arriving on set at all. And what does actually make it onto film looks downright dreadful, making Gilliam’s obvious elation after yelling cut all the more sad and pathetic. One can’t help but sit there and think this would never happen on a Spielberg set (until one remembers the flop “1941” of course).

The final credits announce that Gilliam is currently attempting to raise money to buy his film back from the insurance company that currently owns the rights to the project. As a devotee of the “Man of La Mancha,” I can only hope it never ever happens.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0308514/

City of God (Cidade de Deus)

Grade: A-

Uncompromisingly gritty, harrowing and relentless. One is so enveloped in a world of poverty, crime, despair and fury that this is also an uncomfortable and difficult sit. Should one decide to enter this very real world, it will feel as though you are entrapped there for far longer than the 131 minute running time. Be warned – it is a painful world to enter. It takes time for one’s mind to settle in and acclimate. It is also a gripping world one has rarely seen before.

Don’t let the title fool you – the “City of God” is a poverty-stricken ghetto, a place the poor and other undesirables are dumped away from the watchful eyes of Rio’s tourist economy. Crime is a basic form of employment here, and babes are raised from the cradle to carry guns and choose between rival drug dealers. Romance feels more like a panging need to feel something, dreams go no farther than electricity, a good high, and possibly leaving this rathole before one dies.

Yet even in this cavernous bleakness, a young man carries the hope that his camera will provide a way out. This true tale of one man’s journey is less about him and more about the culture from which he comes. We watch his friends, from childhood on into adulthood, and those he barely knows but who find dramatic ways to intersect with his life, a cycle of brutality and hopelessness we know is never-ending. And yet, amazingly, there is hope.

The camera jockeys and jostles as though filming is taking place in a war zone because, in fact, it is. Yet none of these characters are blank unknowns out of movie newsreels. One never forgets that they were all once children. And most of them are corrupted, or evil, or dead long before they make it into adolescence.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0317248/