Film Review: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote Will Be Released
Written and directed by Terry Gilliam, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (TMWKDQ) should really have three different synopses. What magnetizes viewers to the 132 min film is that you never expect its twists and how they redefine action and adventure. By all means, TMWKDQ feels like an indie film that became a cinematic fable; somehow, turning grit into magic.
Adam Driver plays Toby; an “artiste” and acclaimed director whose ego has blurred his creative vision. Trying to recapture the buzzing energy and imagination of his youth, while filming a major motion picture dedicated to The Man of La Mancha, he crosses the Spaniard town he used for a film he made in college. Back in the day, he made its villagers feel like kings and queens, which is something Toby does to others. Driver makes Toby a charmingly annoying guy; someone you love but also want to shake into reality. The problem is, as the film progresses, you realize reality truly is subjective.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has Toby getting wrapped up in a literal adventure similar to the chivalrous legend. Thus, with each passing minute, you get warped into a sense of beauty and confusion until you ask yourself, “Who is Don Quixote?” While Jonathan Pryce gallantly plays “a shoe-maker turned actor turned deranged man that believes he is Don Quixote,” by the end of the film he seems the most centered. Yes, he is insane, with deluded definitions of chivalry, kindness, and dreaminess, but, at least, he is mad with virtue. Meanwhile, Toby and company, from his seedy Boss (Stellan Skarsgard) to his wife (Olga Kurylenko), you meet a list of characters that have no moral code beyond a monetary one, of which Toby learns to draw away from them through his love for Angelica (Joana Ribeiro).
Ribeiro plays Angelica with the majesty of Dulcinea, and has one of the more intriguing storylines of the film. Of all the bridges Toby torched, his connected with Angelica was the one that became pure ash and moved her to darker paths. Thus, as they rekindle old love and Toby’s own mind begins to suffer the “Don Quixote effect.” the film makes a statement on what happens when you make your life about what you acquire rather than what you imagine. Before The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, I never envisioned the 17the century hero as a lesson on happiness.
What I love about Man of La Mancha is that it is a stunning, adventurous ride that, similar to the book, leaves you with moral lessons. Also, like Don Quixote you are left discussing the symbols and warnings the characters’ journeys make about what it means to be a happy, good human being. Pryce’s Don Quixote may be insane, but he is also dignified, hopeful, and happy. By the end, so is Toby, which makes you wonder if you have to go crazy to get happy. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote Comes Out April 19.
