Pluskylang Great Film overall

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

folkloro "The Saragossa Manuscript" is certainly an authentic masterpiece. Although its' duration is nearly 3 hours, the interest of the spectator does not fade in any part of the film. It is a fairy tale which contains several stories, something that could cause a confusion to the viewer. Here, we speak of something completely different. The narration flows so well that leads to the interference of the sub stories naturally, with no need of cheap tricks, which are very often used by many modern filmmakers at their vain attempts to imitate "Pulp Fiction". The artistic part is excellent and acting is brilliant from all the participants. Highly recommended!!! Νevertheless, its' fame is not so well spread as it deserves and possibilities of bumping into it is only at late night screenings of a national TV network or at a marginal cinema theater.

druid333-1 'Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie' (or as it is also known as,'The Saragossa Manuscript)is one of those strange little films that originally had a limited release in the U.S. (and a version cut by just under an hour.at that). This film,however came to the attention of Grateful Dead founder,Jerry Garcia,while attending a screening (in a questionable state of mind,I'm sure),back in 1966. He was so blown away by this film that he wanted others to see it,but that open window of opportunity was closed by the time he alerted his friends. He searched for years to get the American rights to distribute it out of his own pocket. Sadly,by the time of his death,news had arrived from Europe that a 35mm print of the original directors cut (which ran just over three hours)had become available. In memory of Garcia,the film's American distribution was handled by Francis Coppola & Steven Spielberg. Just why did Jerry Garcia go crackers over this film? Well,for one, this is a very surreal & psychedelic film,taken from the 19th century novel by Jan Potocki,which is about a very strange book that falls into the hands of a Flemish Captain,during the Napoleonic wars,and the effects it has on him (as well as anybody else who comes upon it). Wojciech Has directs a top notch cast of Polish actors,including the great Zbigniew Cybulski (star of many a prolific Polish film,including Wajda's Ashes & Diamonds,and others). Tadeusz Kwiatkowski's screenplay brings out the best in what is probably a difficult novel to make the transfer to the screen. This is the kind of film that one does not need the use of psychedelic drugs to get the utmost effect from (but probably wouldn't hurt). Not rated by the MPAA, this film does contain a bit of graphic violence,and a bit of mature content.

super_geisha i have a really low threshold for boredom, and while i saw this on the bigscreen, in a real theatre, i was spellbound. i didnt know what to expect, but it was mesmerising. i didnt try intellectualise it, but it was impossible to pick apart. just see it. put your head into the time period that the story is trying to convey. caveat: i think apocalypse now is an amazing film. redux was great. when i walked out of the theatre after seeing saragossa, i couldnt speak for hours. do yourself a favor and at least give this one a shot. try and see it on the big screen if you can.

Alex Klotz Although I usually try to avoid very long movies, I was glad I took the time to watch this one. Based on Jan Potocki's marvelous, somewhat `enlightened Gothic novel', this is another congenial literary adaptation of Director Wojciech Has; it's a shame this is the only one of his movies easily available. The film tells of a young soldier traveling through Spain and meeting a lot of strange characters that all have their own stories to relate. Of course, the series of interlocked stories-within-stories may appear complicated, but there is always the opportunity to just lean back and enjoy the story being told right now; or to look at the diagram in the great DVD Edition to make things clear. And surely there doesn't seem to be a central thread if you don't watch the end of the movie. (How useful would a review of, say `The usual Suspects' be, if you didn't watch the ending?) And, by the way, there are a lot more stories and framing devices in the novel… It's no wonder that (Danger! Pretentious name-dropping ahead) this is one of Luis Bunuel's favorite movies, the structure of some of his later films, especially `The Milky Way' and `The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' bear a lot of resemblance. And there's a scene in `Monty Python's Life of Brian', in which the Pasheko – Character reappears. (It's too close to be a coincidence.) To cut a long story short: If you prefer films with a straight forward narration; this one's obviously not for you. But if you're open minded and like to see a highly original, imaginative epic, try it.