Reviewing The Situation - The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen

I forget who asked me to cast a guy over Terry Gilliam's epic fantasy but, hey, here's what I came up with.

Terry Gilliam’s epic fantasy comedy recounts the life and times of Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron Von Munchausen, decorated soldier, traveller extraordinaire and the world's greatest liar.

And, oh, the fights Gilliam has had to endure over the course of his career. From the 'Battle Of Brazil' (profiled in the Jack Matthews book of that title) to the mid-production collapse of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, little has come easy to the American-born Python. The upshot of this is that the man universally praised for his unique vision is just as celebrated for his Olympian perseverance.

Between the aforementioned crises, Gilliam experienced his biggest misfortunes making Munchausen. A shrinking budget, language problems, inefficient execs, large-scale theft - the writer-director had to deal with these and countless other obstacles. And while a special edition DVD re-release - complete with commentary and feature-length documentary - might have heightened the audience's appreciation of what Gilliam went through, it also illustrates how an apparent dream project became a ragged affair that only occasionally resembles the superb caper film it could have been.