The subject of this post is fairy tales, Yes, the ones with dragons, fairies, unicorns, mermaids, princes and princesses, bandits and wiches. Everyone one of us have heard at least one of them. Our parents uesed to read to us at bedtime, when we were young. Why? Because they are entertaining and with all this mythical creatures, the superhuman abilities our imagination went wild. But also, in every fairy tale there was a moral teaching and the imaginative story made the medicine go down easily. We learned good from bad, right from wrong through them.
I know, I know... @cinetv asked about our favourite fairy tale, however, I will bend the rules a bit and introduce you to one of my favorite storytellers (of the modern world) Terry Gilliam and specifically his story of Baron Munchausen.
The adventures of Baron Munchausen
Baron Munchausen was a real person... Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, a German nobleman,that was in the military and fought against the Turks. He was a vivid storyteller, with many exaggerations in his stories. His stories inspired Raspe, a German jewel thief, to write about the adventures of Munchausen. The book became a hit and many more fictional and imaginative stories began to emerge, giving Munchausen the nickname of the world's greatest liar.
Terry Gilliam, though in his film, doesn't treat him as a liar. He is the much needed story teller that will help us lift our spirit even though thing doesn't go right. He is the motivation power to exceed ourselves. What else were the stories of Munchausen than exceeding the limits of reality?
In the age of Logic (where no fairy tales can fit in), a european city is is besieged by the Turkish army. In the city theater to maintain morale, a troupe plays the adventures of Baron Mthnhausen, until an old man interrupts shouting that this is not how things happened and that only he can stop the war with the sultan. Of course, this is the real Baron, but no one believes him at first, except for a little girl, Sally, who asks for his help to end the war ... And so the adventure begins.
The Baron has a unique way of approaching things. Sometimes on a cannon ball in the direction of the enemy camp (do not worry: he returns on top of another cannon ball)
He has many old enemies, as the Moon King (an excellent Robin Williams once again in the part of Moon King that has a detachable head from his body and these two don't get well together), because Munchausen had an affair with his wife, the Moon Queen.or the Sultan, because the Baron with the help of his friends took all the Sultan's treasure. (And that's was the real reason for the Sultan's attack on the city.
He loves beauty and women and they love him, too. Moon Queen, the ladies in the theater and VENUS. There is an exceptional scene of the birth of Venus, inpsired by Boticceli painting, with the beautiful Uma Thurman in the part of Venus. Please watch it. It's an excellent aesthetics scene.
He has many loyals friends, that have icredible powers:
- Berthold (Eric Idle of Monty Pythons), the world's fastest man, so fast that he can run faster than a bullet and catch it. ( and saving the Baron's life or going from Constantinopole to Vienna in one hour and return).
- Gustavus, the man with exceptional hearing, that hear from a long distance anf a lung power to blow big objects (or an army) away
- Adolphus, the rifleman that with his eyesight can hit objects that are far, far, far away
- Albrecht, the strongest man in the world.
During his adventures, the Baron will meet the Angel Of Death many times. But he will achieve to escape him (not always, but most of the times).
Baron is a winner, because he believes in life, in beauty. He believes that aything is possible. And that's why he saved the city, with the help of his friends.
Terry Gilliam has an inexhaustible imagination. He had proved it for so many years with his participation in the Monty Pythons team. He was the one who had mainly taken over the directing part, choosing to be behind the camera. An intelligent, multi-talented and diverse man approached Munchausen's story in a way that took it off. Not just an epic depiction of the adventures of the imaginative Baron, but a story with a great moral lesson.
Terry Gilliam on the set of Brazil
Daily life swallows us, we grow old, we get lost, the angel of death comes to whisper in our ear. But as long as we keep our imagination, believe in the impossible and chase it, we fight for our beloved and the high cause, we will always be alive. The Baron revived as his adventures progressed. So we, like our baron, have it in our hands not to believe in the darkness of life and to become alive again, happy like little children.
And there is always space for fairy tales in our lives!
Thank you for reading!
