Lost in La Mancha

The most interesting thing to come out of this documentary is that there does seem to be a curse on filming "Don Quixote." The nature of that curse, whether such a thing exists or not, or if it's just bizarre coincidence, doesn't really matter. Several who have tried to film the story, including Orson Welles, have had the most amazing bad luck. The bad luck that Terry Gilliam had was nearly Biblical: His hero struck down, hail and floods, drastic color and flora changes on the outdoor locations, all within the first few days of shooting.

I kinda enjoyed the flick - it was a little flat, even for a documentary, and the first 7 chapters (on the DVD) were pure filler. You can jump to the 8th chapter, not miss a thing, and see where all the havoc begins. If you dig watching what happens in pre-production of a movie, or have never seen what goes on, watch from the start. Otherwise, 8 it up.

It's too bad that the movie didn't get made. It looks like it would have been a fantastic movie. My only beef is they replaced Poncho with "Gordon" or something like that, a modern TV commercial actor somehow transported back in time to become Quixote's sidekick (played by Johnny Depp). Therefore, he drops f-bombs everywhere, and something like Don Quixote would be better served if this were somehow a "G" or "PG" version. Modern foul slang language can be hilarious in the right setting, and an epic historical farce is not that setting, imnsho.