Gilliam’s obsession finally comes to fruition in ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’

Posted on April 19, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Many movies languish in limbo for years, never reaching production. Others begin the process but are shut down for any multitude of reasons, whether they be financial, creative differences or simply the person in charge decides to focus on something else.

No film, however, has had the kind of journey that writer/director Terry Gillium’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” has had. The story behind the production is worthy of a film itself, and it actually has spawned two, the first of which debuted way back in 2002 and the second yet to be released.

Now, after two decades of injuries, floods, wars, deaths, lawsuits and just about everything else imaginable, the film is finally here, thanks to a one-showing-only release last week. The success of that showing had reportedly made way for a more traditional limited release. While I do not know when or if it will reach our area again, I still wanted to spend a moment talking about a movie that became an obsession, both for the director and his fans.

No film could quite live up to the expectations that some 25 years of production disasters could build, but “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is very much the kind of movie I’ve come to expect from Gilliam, the Monty Python member who gave us “Twelve Monkeys,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Brazil” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.”

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