I have always been a big fan of his work, and decided it was time to watch several of his films simultaneously in order to get a better appreciation of his work. I finally pulled it off. When my brain finally stopped melting and the blood stopped running out of my pupils, I thought I’d write about them.
1. Time Bandits
Time Bandits is a fantasy film in which a group of dwarves, “maintenance workers” during The Creation, became embittered when they were downsized (pud-ump-bum) and stole a map of the universe which shows all the “time holes” the Supreme Being left in his hasty six-day construction job. They proceed to use said map to leap through time, plundering treasures of the planet earth during its greatest moments.
Due to an unexpected blunder, they wind up with a young English schoolboy in tow, and continue their adventures through time, constantly gaining and losing treasures as they meet “historical” figures such as Robin Hood, Agamemnon, and Napoleon.
In the end, they need to defeat Pure Evil and return the map to the Supreme Being.
All in all, this is one of my favorite Gilliam flicks. Fantasy, action, and questions of right versus wrong all lead to an awesome film, suitable for all ages.
2.The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Baron Munchausen, a historical figure famed for telling extraordinary tales which border on unbelieveability, is brought to life in this film.
As the Turks reign war upon an unnamed European city in “The Age of Reason,” a band of actors are performing in a play which features some of the more famous tales of Baron Munchausen, when an enraged old man, claiming to be said baron, appears and disrupts the performance as he tells the tales as they actually occurred.
Taking off in a hot air balloon made of womens’ knickers, he pledges to end the siege by enlisting the support of some of the fantastic characters from his many stories.
Does he end the war? Are his stories for real? Is he even the real baron? Check out the movie to find out!
3. Brazil
Man-o-man, what a messed up flick. Considering that the movie industry forced Gilliam to make the ending “happy,” and that the director’s cut is almost twice as long as the theatrical release, the real version must be great, right? Right!
It’s the future, and a mega-beurocratic society has assigned everyone into their “proper” place. The Ministry of Information runs the show as it absorbs all the information about every citizen that it can find. This information leads the MoI to abduct those who it deems terrorists, extract information from them, and bill them for the expense.
Sam Lowry, our hero, works to rescue an innocent victim of honesty from the persecution of the MoI, a young woman who also happens to be his love interest.
The visuals in this film are brilliant, and the messages of governmental control are clean and clear. Watch it with an open mind and be changed.
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Haven’t seen it? Sacrilege! Gilliam moved from the U.S. to England, joined the Monty Python troupe, and made it what it was. All the animations you see in their films? Yup, Gilliam drew them. He also directed this, probably their most well known and well received film.
King Arthur rides through England, enduring French taunts, the terror of the Knights Who Say Ni!, and the enchanter known as Tim, as he searches for the Grail.
By the way, it’s friggin’ hilarious!
5. Twelve Monkeys
In the future, 99% of the population has been killed by a malicious virus, and the survivors live underground.
A criminal is volunteered to go back in time – they can’t cure the disease, but they’ve invented time machines – to find a pure strain of the virus so that a vaccine can be constructed.
In the past (our present,) our hero is confined in an asylum, and must convince his doctor that he’s not crazy, and that he is the only hope for those survivors in the future. Or is he…?
6. The Brothers Grimm
While this film didn’t get great reviews, I thought it was a pretty good fantasy. Lacking in the usual Gilliam visuals, it didn’t hold up as well as I would have expected, but it was pretty good for a modern fairy tale.
The Grimm brothers are con men, convincing superstitious villagers that they are haunted, and then using special effects to appear to exorcise whatever ghouls and ghosts exist in the towns.
Things get spicier when the occupying French army forces them to go to a village plagues by a real enchanted forest, which has a bad habit of abducting their children.
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