... conserving an endless war against an imaginary enemy. Am I the only one who saw it this way?
Recently watched movies:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) (7/10)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) (6/10) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/
Empire of Passion (1978) (6/10) 2nd time http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077132/
Also his line about not escaping because of future generations gave me a whole GWB vibe.
"Why are we talking about Howard?"
"Because he likes dick"
"Dick who?"
Ha! Never thought about it like that, but it makes sense XD
Kind of like that in Howl's Moving Castle. The war was real, obviously, but you never really find out who their fighting or exactly why.
They are fighting a war over the missing Prince. It is covered in more detail in the novel obviously, but in the film you can see two people conversing about it in an alleyway over a newspaper. It is barely mentioned, but you do find out it was over the Prince's 'kidnapping'.
shareyes, too bad he's not in the least scientific (or rational as any critic would point out). and in the instances he IS scientific, like going back to the moon, is the exact opposite of what Jonathan Pryce's character said about it not being possible to travel to the moon.
good to hear your political opinions, though. oh and I do hope you had someone ruin Borat for you or you were a big fan of the show, because, unless you already heard all the jokes, that is a really great comedy movie.
Probably not, but it's what I would call an incomplete perspective.
shareI'm sorry, no. very much no. And for all the things that can be said about George Bush and the so-called War on Terror, what you have presented here is a cheap-shot in an attempt to sound intelligent.
So how about you do your research, come up with some REAL points against Bush, and lets have a discussion. the whole... "haha, this guy is fighting a war, he must be evil, he must be Bush" got old in 2003.
And wait a second... The Turks aren't imaginary in the film. So your idea loses another point.
So yes, you probably are the only one who saw it this way until your equally ignorant peers jumped on the band-wagon.
I just finished watching munchausen on Blu-ray, first time i've seen it since it was in the theater, and it's just as wonderful as i remembered (it occurred to me that this story has many similarities with Mary Poppins, which I dearly love, as well). While watching it, I too couldn't help but think of the Bush administration. You don't have to read it literally, as some of the previous posters have suggested, but thematically I believe what Gilliam was demonstrating here is very much relevant in today's politics: government lying to it's people to keep the country in a perpetual state of war. If you listen in the beginning, as Munchausen 1st bursts into the theater and takes stage, declaring "Lies! It's all lies!," if you listen carefully, you'll hear the audience members (symbolizing the city's people) arguing back and forth over the reason their country is at war, and it becomes evident they have no clear idea. However, the scene that seemed most resonant to me was at the end when Muchausen proclaims he will "open the gates!" and Horatio Jackson is desperate that he not do so, because behind the gates is The Truth -- there is no enemy outside... i couldn't help but consider the Bush administration's desperate attempts at hiding the truth from American citizens: disallowing proper media coverage of the war (ie: making sure no photos are printed of dead soldier's caskets returning from war), our reason for being there (which changes from election to election)...
I'm not trying to say that Munchausen is a direct account of American Politics in the last 7 years, but the themes which concern Gilliam in this film (as well as in Brazil) are certainly poiniant in today's political climate, perhaps more so now than even when the film was made.
For those of you who are arguing that the details of Horatio Jackson's story don't perfectly reflect those of George W. Bush, you mustn't be so damned literal. This is a fairy tale, after all, the function of which is often to serve as a cautionary tale, a device which allows us to open our eyes to our own lives and the world around us. To be so literal in your reading is to be as "logical" and myopic as Horatio, and sort of missing very heart of the film.
I think everybody on this thread has it backwards. I saw it as totally applicable to the current war against civilization by islamofacists, but not the same as anyone else. The sultan's opera "the torturer's apprentice" points up the devaluation of human life of our enemy in this conflict. Even while appearing to be civil and talking of "my school days in england" he is cruelly exploiting his people. The baron is a figure of scorn and ridicule (G.W. Bush) who actually takes the threat from the sultan at face value and tries to fight it (shouldn't we silence those enemy cannon? no sir. why not? its wednesday) Meanwhile, the right ordinary public servant (the democratic party) is trying to rationally negotiate with an irrational enemy and 'supporting' the troops like the heroic soldier who destroyed 6 enemy cannon and rescued ten men. They are aided and abbetted by the mainstream media (the whispering functionary) who together try to prevent the knowledge of the true state of affairs (uday and kusays rape rooms, mass graves from saddams time, success of the surge = the missing turks outside the gate) from the people so that they will look to them for salvation. The right ordinary horatio jackson even kills the baron (dennis kucinich and articles of impeachment, all of the media attacks calling him an idiot) The baron knows and represents on screen the idea that what is most necessary for victory in the conflict is the confidence and belief in self that eventually do allow him and his servants to carry the day. And while the american spirit can be killed temprarily (think the carter administration), it will come back as good as ever if we so will it.
I see it as a very nicely done indictment of the anti-war islamofascist appeasing left.
That's actually quite clever.
Goes to show you can attribute pretty much any meaning to a story.
OH, yes, as George W Bush's presidency was unfolding I was very cognizant that life was imitating art.
Thank Heavens for Our Lord and Savior Jesus H. Obama then, right?
'Cause he's ever so much righter and more honest than that naughty old Bush!
Ha. Children shouldn't play at partisan politics, girls....
Uhm, seeing as this was made back when George Bush was still a drunken embarrassment to his father, I think the parallel to the current war on terror is attributing intent to the film after the fact.
If anything Gilliam was mocking the idea of such ageless conflicts that still go on, despite the majority on either side having forgotten how it started and what sparked the conflict.
Think Israel-Palestine, the Yugoslav civil war, Northern ireland, Sinhalese vs tamil etc...
Mr.Stay Puft's ok,he's a sailor,he's in NY We get this guy laid we won't have any trouble