Keith Fulton / Louis Pepe
Lost In La Mancha

LA RECENSIONE

"Don't worry, this is just the trailer for the film!" T.Gilliam

This Non-film is an anomaly in the international cinema landscape. This "Lost in La Mancha" (2002) by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, tells, in a sort of almost daily log, the story of a failure, the decline of an idea, a Total Surrender across the board: the chronicle of the making of a film about Don Quixote which, due to an endless series of misfortunes and coincidences, will NEVER be made. The Apology of Defeat, therefore, despite the means (a rich production already started with 32 million dollars!), the enthusiasm (of the director, here the true unrivaled protagonist), and the desire of the entire team (from the actors involved to the unstoppable crew facing hurricanes and rains!).
Thus it seems the curse that is said to afflict this mythical and legendary figure of Cervantes renews, as already in 1965, after almost 20 years of work (!), Orson Wells had to give up his Don Quijote, posthumously assembled in 1992 in an edition now circulating on DVD.

This work is born from the desire to document the birth, the preparations, and the succession of events that will gradually dismantle the original film and transform into a sort of "Diary of an Unannounced Catastrophe".
A film where, almost inadvertently, the roles merge, and Terry Gilliam himself seems to become Don Quixote in a kind of involuntary metamorphosis, in a desperate struggle to complete a colossal project he was heavily betting on, fighting with all his might against bad weather, organizational problems, the poor health of the lead actor (Jean Rochefort), the withdrawal of Hollywood producers from the project, the dance of insurance agencies threatening lawsuits, and a thousand other "windmills" that will stand in his way.

This "Lost in La Mancha" is a bitter film, of a fight lost from the start: against everything and everyone, fought tooth and nail but ultimately succumbing to the cruel fate that seems to have already made its choice without conditions. A film that also has the great merit of showing us what international stars like Johnny Depp (engaged in discussing certain scenes with the same volcanic director), Vanessa Paradise (a doll out of water almost indifferent to everything), Jean Rochefort (a Don Quixote assaulted by a lumbar attack with medical certificates that won't allow him even to ride a horse), and Terry Gilliam (tenacious, crazy, stubborn, and a dreamer like few, with a gaze that can SEE far to imagine things we humans cannot yet see) are really like and how they act.

An exhilarating documentary full of overwhelming energy thanks to a truly unique Gilliam/Quixote who makes us review all the works of this director with a new perspective: that of a person who STRONGLY BELIEVES in what they do and DAMNS THEIR SOUL to reach their goal, depicting a kind of Epic Hero of old times (until the end, the stubborn director will refuse the idea of not completing the started shoots, considering this documentary a sort of behind-the-scenes to create the trailer for the real film!).

An avalanche of truly commendable strength and enthusiasm but perhaps not enough to fight the Great Universal Misfortune that when it strikes, no trick or artifice can hold it back!

Truly delightful!