The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Baron Munchausen was a fictional eighteenth century nobleman from Germany who was based on true life blokes who fought with the Russians against the Turks.   A brash rogue, yet refined and brave and seemingly benefitted with nine lives.  He was fond of telling tales that were outlandish and surreal, involving rides on flying cannonballs and such.  Perfect fodder for 20th century film adaptations that I've learned date back to the 1930s.  I first became aware of the character from co-writer/director Terry Gilliam's 1988 fantasy THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, a film plagued by production woes, studio brass turnover, and a botched theatrical release.  Familiar territory for Gilliam as he battled Universal over what many would consider his signature film, BRAZIL some years before.  BARON would prove yet another of the director's many frustrations and disappointments in his career, a film that still suffers bad publicity as its grown up child star, Sarah Polley has recounted the dangerous atmosphere on the set and the resulting permanent scarring she has carried with her since. 

I feel this movie is as imperfect as it is imaginative, and I will always have a soft spot for it.  Nostalgia? Partially.  I'm usually captivated by Gilliam's grand and eccentric visions.  Even in what I consider his worst films, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, JABBERWOCKY, and FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (let's not mention TIDELAND), there is so much rich, frame filling detail that even if the script is a haphazard afterthought, there is enough to attach oneself to.  We first see the Baron (John Neville) interrupting a stage play detailing his life while gunfire from the Ottoman army riddles the city walls.  A fitting merge of reality and fantasy.  Munchausen is critical of the production's inaccuracies, and offers his own account of that time he barely escaped a guillotine over a wager.  As the barrage of artillery worsens outside, the play is shut down and no less than the Grim Reaper tries to take Munchausen away.

Soon, the Baron will escape the city via hot air balloon, jumping criminal charges leveled by the corrupt mayor, The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson (Jonathan Pryce), who regularly makes deals with the enemy, the Grand Turk/Sultan (Peter Jeffrey).  Along for the ride is Sally Salt (Polley), the daughter of the theater's director.  Her elder promises that he will return to save the city from the Turks, but not before a grand adventure to the moon and back, with stops inside a large sea creature and a volcano.  Is all of this just another spun yarn?

Stage actor Neville is perfectly hammy and regal.  Gilliam's Monty Python colleague Eric Idle is appropriately confused as Berthold, who can run faster than anybody.  A teenage Uma Thurman plays Venus, who shares a magical dance with the Baron, much to the consternation of her husband Vulcan (a well cast Oliver Reed).  Some actors play more than one role.

THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN came smack in the middle of Gilliam's golden era, between TIME BANDITS and TWELVE MONKEYS.  I feel it deserves more or less the same stature, at least demonstrating a reckless creativity that mostly works, even when in moments it's a little heavy handed.  A certain magic is always there. I felt the King of the Moon sequence (with an uncredited and ab-libbing Robin Williams as a disembodied floating head) was the least successful and far too long, but everything else lends to a beautifully messy tapestry of mild political commentary and fanciful lies (is that redundant?).  Detractors of Mr. Gilliam might also cite mental illness.  Polley certainly holds a grudge, recalling her unsafe proximity to explosions on the set.  For what it's worth, her performance is just fine, but worth the danger?