lasttimeisaw Anticipating Pasolini's TRILOGY OF LIFE, Polish tastemaker Wojciech Has's THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT is an enterprising matryoshka-structured miscellany of tales, affirmatively tackling Jan Potocki's 1815 novel THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN SARAGOSSA, after a succinct frame story set in the town of Saragossa during, the rest of the narrative jumps 100-years back to the 18th Century Spain, where our token protagonist Alfonso van Worden (Cybulski), the captain in the Walloon Guard, fetches up in a haunted inn where he meets two beautiful girls Emina (Czyzewska) and Zibelda (Jedryka), who claim that they are his cousins and both will marry him with alacrity if he converts to Islam. But the next day, Alfonso wakes up in the gallows and the girls have vanished, he encounters sundry characters hereafter, a hermit priest (Opalinski) trying to cure a possessed one-eyed man Pacheco (Pieczka), who has had his own mishap with two beauties, a team of inquisitors, a posse of gangsters (whose leaders appear to be resurrected from the gallows), and recounts stories of his duel-avid father (Lindner). Only when he meets a cabalist Don Pedro Uzeda (Pawlikwoski), the locale changes to the latter's castle, where additional characters are introduced including a great raconteur Don Avadoro (Niemczyk), from his tale, the film segues into a labyrinthine tale-within-a-tale-within-a-tale-and-so-on pattern, which requires keen attention to keep tabs on who is who, during a catenation of (mis)-adventures among noblemen. Whereas each snippet is garnished with ample ridicule and a beguiling naivety, for want of a tie-in with a contemporary viewer's more level-headed receptacle due to its removed time-line and sketchy caricature, acquired taste is prerequisite to savor its foolery and follies, not to mention the cast's theatrical acting style doesn't quite help to split the difference between its frivolous fodder and an indiscriminate process of assimilation required to its spectatorship. Laden with numinous symbols and memento mori, skulls (a skull goblet is a salient prop), gallows, cadavers, etc., Wojciech Has' expressively dreamed up saga blithely oozes with a mythic allure that would well keeps a more high-brow audience hooked, it proffers an array of religious, ethnic, occult inclusion (cabalism, Muslim, Islam, Romany), and its awe-inspring monochromatic cinematography, elaborate period costumes and settings, plus a rhapsodic symphonic score, either of them alone is worth allotting 3-hour of our lives to revel in its grandeur, if, either mysticism or romp is your cuppa.

Jackson Booth-Millard This Polish film is one I found in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I definitely would never have heard of or watched it if it weren't for the appearance in the book, so I hoped for something good. Basically, set during the time of the Napoleonic wars, during a battle, in the Aragonese town of Saragossa (Zaragoza), an officer finds a large old book of drawings, and through the translations of an enemy officer, finds out that the author is his grandfather, captain of the Walloon guard Alfonse Van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski). Through flashbacks the film tells the story of Van Worden, a man of honour and courage, as he encounters various characters on his journey through the Sierra Morena Mountains. These characters include Moorish princesses Emina (Iga Cembrzyńska) and Zibelda (Joanna Jędryka), a Hermit (Kazimierz Opalinski) trying to cure a possessed lunatic, a cabalist, a sceptical mathematician and rationalist philosopher, a gypsy raconteur and a member of the Spanish Inquisition. All of their characters have their own stories to tell, Van Worden listens to them and gets involved with their lives until in the end he returns to Venta Quemada, but apparently all of his experiences may have a dream as he finds himself back where he started with the book. Also starring Slawomir Lindner as Van Worden's father, Miroslawa Lombardo as Van Worden's mother, Aleksander Fogiel as Nobleman and Franciszek Pieczka as Pacheco. To be completely honest, having to read the subtitles and the leading character going from place and place and meeting new people caused me to become rather confused, I could not keep up with everything, the critics describe is as complex, my attention was only caught by certain situation settings, the battle sequences, the good period costumes and the marvellous haunting music score by Krzysztof Penderecki, all in all I'm not sure it's something I'd watch again, but it is an alright fantasy adventure drama. Worth watching, at least once, in my opinion!

Richard Brzostek People have loved storytelling since the beginning of time. Stories that captivate us, stories that give us chills, stories that excite us, and stories that make us think are all great, but some stories do all of these such as The Saragossa Manuscript (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie). The Saragossa Manuscript is quite possibly one of the best Polish films ever made and is one of my favorites. Based on the novel written by Jan Potocki, this classic Polish movie directed by Wojciech Has is not straightforward, but rather resembles a complicated tapestry.During the Napoleonic wars in Spain, two soldiers from opposing sides become fascinated by the same object. A French officer finds a manuscript on the second floor of a tavern, but the town is soon captured by the Spanish. The Spaniard, seeing the importance of the tome, translates it to the Frenchman who is unable to read the book as it is written in Spanish. The book describes the adventures of one of the Spaniard's ancestors, Alfonse Van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski). Humorously, when the Spanish troops tell their commander "we are being surrounded" he only tells them "close the door, you are letting in a draft." Alfonse Van Worden is trying to pass the Sierra Morena Mountains of Spain in the 18th century on his way to Madrid. But his passage is no simple task, as ghosts, gypsies and inquisitors complicate his voyage. On the hillside is an inn that is cared for by people who too afraid to spend the night there themselves. Van Worden disregards the superstitious people, only to be taken to a basement of the inn by a mysterious woman. In the basement, he meets two beautiful Moorish princesses that want him to be their husband, but quickly make him drink from a chalice made from a human skull. He wakes up on the hillside some distance from the inn near two hanging men with many skulls strewn about the ground.When Van Worden wakes up, he makes his best effort to continue to Madrid, but ends up meeting a number of people and is always delayed. The people he meets tell him their story, and the people in the story tell their story also. Like a nesting egg, the movie becomes a story in a story in a story. The stories interlink and overlap, each filling us in with details the others where not aware of. While it nearly resembles a horror with creepy ghosts and ghouls, the story is also amusing and funny with curious tales of exploits and adventures. The Saragossa Manuscript also has en erotic side with gorgeous women at every turn. While parts of the story resemble a horror, the rest is like a romance or even a comedy. The Saragossa Manuscript is a sophisticated film brimming with mystical and occult elements.

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.