There were a couple of details that could have put me off in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, from the wise midget to the whole circus-like setting. (Honestly, who hasn't a creepy feeling when it comes to circus, clowns, freaks?). But, if I were a film critic I would never start my review with a "Terry Glliam creates a universe of fantasy and weirdness in his latest visionary The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". It would be way too dull and trite.
On the contrary, I found the film rather political and social focused. Subtle criticism is interspersed within the plot and intertwines beautifully with the magical world of its main characters. The story is a bit pretentious, but Gilliam has a vibrant and engaging way of telling it. Mmm...I wonder if engaging is the appropriate expression since a couple of people abandoned the screening halfway through (incidentally, I've been twice to the movies so far and both times some people left in the middle of the show. I wonder why that happens. In Italy, and a French friend confirmed it also for her home country, that would never happen. Or it would rarely happen. My hypothesis is that Londoners are so busy that if a film isn't good enough they wouldn't waste their precious time watching it).
Going back to The Imaginarium... I found it rather critical of England. The time setting is supposed to be contemporary, but the world of the travelling theatre seems to belong to a long-forgotten past. The past of thousand-year-old Doctor Parnassus. The presence of Tony is never well-explained, as well as each character's story. Where does the midget come from?
But that's not the point of the story. It's not about explaining. It's all about suggesting, it's all about hinting. Suggesting an imaginary world of desires and dreaming that leads straightaway to death. The only way to escape it is a fatal deal with the devil. And here comes the criticism: the devil has red hair. Interesting choice of dye. Everyone who knows me a bit knows that I don't like red-haired guys (I mean, aesthetically). And being ginger is a very common feature among Englishmen. The main female character, Valentina a.k.a. Lily Cole, also has red hair. Her beauty, gentleness and naughtiness (her father calls her scrappy) at the same time, level out the discrepancy with her malicious male counterparts.
Greed is also pilloried sharply in the film. The paradise of shoes in which the fancy old lady revels, the spiteful promise that Doctor Parnassus seals with the devil are all part of this criticism. But most strikingly the director tears to pieces the whole charity propaganda, showing its fake, hypocrisy and abysmal brutality. Corruption exploiting children's sufferings is portrayed in a rather grotesque way, which reminded me of some Otto Dix's paintings. Lopsided perspectives and unnaturally bright colours add Gilliam's style to the oddities of the movie.
The film is imbued with metaphors. Some of them refer to a long-established tradition: the devil as a smarmy snake, Charon the ferryman who accompanies the souls in the hereafter, the sound of clarinets to underline the lovers' first encounter in the very opera's fashion. Other Italian references are Tony's a.k.a. Heath Ledger's costume that resembles Punch's, the Neapolitan character of XXVI century Commedia dell'Arte, and Valentina's representation as a modern version of the Venus of Botticelli. Other symbols are more intriguing and more theme-related. The ever fascinating metaphor of the travelling theatre as life experience juxtaposed to settling down and the linked device of the mirror as tool to search inside one's soul. Both elements were typical of the baroque. And then the tarots, the steep mountain, the police that defeat Russian mafia by showing their arses... The blatant farce is depicted in splendid grandeur and accuracy.
As well as mesmerizing the audience's eye, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus sows here and there pearls of wisdom that are worth noting down. Tony's dirty plans were revealed by an inquiry that was cover story on The Sun. When questioned by Valentina's true-blue friend Anton he replies: "Don't always believe what you read in the newspaper, especially The Mirror" (pun intended?). Quite a barb, ain't it? Especially when you consider that soon later Percy, the dwarf assistant of the company, suggests his master that telling the truth is always a bad idea.
But the most powerful of lines is a catchy phrase uttered by Doctor Parnassus himself addressing the devil: "You can't stop stories from being told".
The past few days have been all about storytelling. Yesterday's International news class had Jeff Nathenson, partner manager at Google and YouTube, as guest speaker. Beside his precious advices on how we should exploit technology at its utmost possibility, he told us that in the end it's all about storytelling. The way a reporter, a journalist, a freelance brands him/herself depends on how he/she tells the story. And he invited us to find our own way to do that. Next guest was Salim Amin, CEO at A24media.com, the independent African 24 hours news channel. He showed us an incredible and moving documentary about the journey he took to trace back his father's footsteps. Bits of footage of Mohammed Amin's report of the famine in Ethiopia in 1984 mingled with contemporary footage of the same country and the very same places where the human catastrophe took place.
Amin's photoreporting was inspiring. He was able to make a difference and raise awareness an money to help people. It was also disturbing and heavy to bear. The words of a commentator towards the end of the bit we watched struck me like darts. MohammedAmin's footage was so deep, so powerful that compelled the viewer to struggle against his conscience, to have a thorough a look inside one's life and reconsider one's priorities. I don't know if I will ever be able to experience something like that. Being a foreign reporter means being ruthless. How can you face famine, suffering and death and then go away? I wondered: how can we be so shallow to care about technology and fashion when people in the world are starving?
And again today. Shirin Neshat, Iranian artist and filmmaker, said at a panel debate at the London Film Festival that in the end it's all about storytelling. Writing and directing a movie is storytelling.
I could easily define myself a storyteller. Being a storyteller sounds much better than being a journalist.
Quick note: Never make a deal with the devil. It's never a good idea. See The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Dorian Gray for confirmation. Immortality is something we shouldn't aspire to.
Quick note 2: It was disquieting seeing Heath Ledger's first appearance in the film as the hanged man.
Quick note 3: The 16-year-old sort of curse reminded me of my favourite Disney heroine: Aurora, a.k.a. The Sleeping Beauty. Sweet 16...a dangerous turning point for a girl, apparently.
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