Saragossa Manuscript
Synopsis
Made in 1965, this became a cult classic in America, and was restored in the 1990s, by Jerry Garcia, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. The narrative is a kind of 'Don Quixote' on drugs, designed to take us on a series of tales within tales; is there a plot, or are we imagining it all? We follow the adventures of Alfonse van Worden, a Belgian officer, through the Sierra Morena during the Peninsular War. He discovers a manuscript which contains stories which involve him. These stories, and his own adventures, overlap and lead us into a surreal, swashbuckling romp.
Critics
“A lost classic for the lost soul in all of us.”
“The director's eye for baroque black-and-white imagery puts him behind only Bava and Welles, while the film's sharp social satire gives heft to its ambition.”