As richly realized as any pure fantasy film, and often cited as the most expensive European film when it was made. (The old Soviet WAR AND PEACE is the biggest movie ever made but was a state effort in an economy with no hard currency, and thus not subject to normal methods of accounting. Another European film, Joseph Goebbels' 1945 KOLBERG, was the most expensive film of all time in terms of relative value of resources consumed - the battle scenes employed 1000s of German troops pulled off the frontlines of the collapsing Third Reich)In a 17th century city besieged to the point of starvation by the Turks a theatrical troupe stages a show about the mythical Baron Munchausen. An old man stalked by a black-winged figure of Death steps forward claiming to be the real Baron Munchausen, and tells fantastic tales of his life to a skeptical crowd - how he won the Turkish treasury on a wager (assisted by a loyal crew of men blessed with improbable powers), visited the Moon and danced with Aphrodite herself. (In psychiatry the compulsive spinning of wild stories is called Munchhausen syndrome) The Baron is weary of the increasingly rationalistic world around him, and tempted to accept the embrace of looming Death, but is inspired by a small girl to attempt one last improbable adventure, reconstituting his band of extraordinary men to break the Turkish siege.
Every scene is visually marvelous, and this convincing fairy-tale will make even the most hardheaded viewers pine for a departed world where everything was possible. Uma Thurman makes a spellbinding Aphrodite in her second film appearance. The cast is stellar - John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown, Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Valentina Cortese, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Paterson, Peter Jeffrey, Uma Thurman, Alison Steadman, Robin Williams
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1 . Dolby Digital Stereo Audio: ENGLISH, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE . Subtitles: SPANISH, CHINESE, THAI, PORTUGUESE, KOREAN
