8/10
Wojciech Has directed two notoriously bonkers movies that have been on my list to see for a long time - this one and The Hourglass Sanatorium. A local theatre was showing the former on the weekend so I checked it out. Released in 1965, it's certainly a strange beast. It takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and sees a Polish officer finding the manuscript, and a Spanish officer helping him translate it, only to realize the book is telling the story of the Spanish officer's grandfather. The grandfather's story is the subject of the film, and the tribulations he goes through over the 3 hour running time are too much to get into here, but they are certainly...bizarre. Has (adapting the novel of the same time) often nests a story within a story within a story within a story to the point where it's tough to remember who's relating what and to whom. It doesn't add up to a great deal in the end, and I think Has is more having fun with what most of the tales are centered around - evil spirits and how the affect the lives of men. Indeed, the movie is pretty funny at times, and never takes itself too seriously.
The surrealistic "feel" is similar to some of Alejandro Jodorowsky's movies, although the overall tone is not nearly as silly or scatological. I do wonder if he saw it prior to making his Fando y Lis in 1968, however.
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