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A litmus test for the surreal
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Time Bandits (1981)
Terry Gilliam's 1981 cult classic is a curious exercise in both frustration and exhilaration. The story, written by Gilliam and Monty Python alum Michael Palin, involving a young boy (Craig Warnock) who one night accidentally joins a crew of thieving dwarfs that have stolen a map from God (Ralph Richardson) and travel across time stealing riches, is not told well. Altogether too episodic with characters barely developed, some of its themes - like nature vs. technology or heroes being a let-down once you meet them - are introduced and then left dangling like errant past participles. Absurdist humor and the surreal clash awkwardly with fantasy conventions, making it seem like you're watching something familiar yet something bizarre at the same time. And the effect, rather than being something fresh, is, in this case, jarring.
On an imagination level, Time Bandits soars. The desert, with an invisible barrier; the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness; the ogre with a bad back; the character of Evil (David Warner) who has a weird whirring blade that comes out of his head; the giant who comes up underneath a ship and ends up carrying it on his head - its a smorgasbord of fantastic concepts. Visually too, the film is a feast, with lavish costumes, exotic locations and awe-inspiring sets.
But the most exciting aspect of the film is watching the evolution of an artist - in this case, Gilliam, who is one of the most stirring visualists of our time. Watching this film now, you can see Gilliam was in the latter stages of Python-erie and playing with ideas that would shape his later films, both visually and thematically. The costumed sets and the pageantry of revolutionary France and ancient Greece would later emerge in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and even The Fisher King. Evil's lair nicely sets up images from Twelve Monkeys. The theme of imagination and its importance to man is given more berth in Brazil as well as Munchausen.
Time Bandits might not fit perfectly with the wave of fantasy films of the early 1980s, but it does fit in perfectly with the career of the artist that is Terry Gilliam.
See also: Labyrinth
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