| Karel
Zeman directed this apology of the imagination, this vindication of fantasy,
of the unreal, of short stories. Based on the character of Baron Munchhausen
whom, in addition to generating an enormous amount of literature and cinema,
lent his name to an illness (the “Munchhausen Syndrome”, obviously
referring to imaginary ailments), our Czech master’s movie mixes
real characters with star-painted ceilings, dolls and drawings, blood
and cardboard, bones and puppets. Different textures and materials make
up Zeman’s masterpiece, one of the peaks of European animation,
a fascinating film paying tribute to, quoting and referring to the cinema
of George Méliès and to the literature of Jules Verne. Cinema
with a capital “C”. |
