In the midst of a bloody Napoleonic battle in Saragossa, Spain, two officers from opposing sides sit down in a heavily shelled Inn, put their differences aside and become engrossed in a large tome entitled "The Saragossa Manuscript". Its writings and lurid graphic images immediately put a spell on them, even more so when one of the officers realizes that the tale being told is that of his grandfather, Captain Alfonse Van Worden, himself an officer in the Walloon Guard. Van Worden's quest begins with his quest to reach the Sierra Morena, a mountainous pass would seem like the shortest route but he is warned by his servants that that area is haunted by demons and spirits. Ignoring their pleas they arrive at the Venta Quemada Inn, there he meets two Moorish princesses, Emina and Zibelda who try and convert him to Islam, claiming that he is the only choice to marry them as he is a distant relation. Despite Alphonse having an inkling they might be ghosts, he drinks from a skull goblet and wakes up under a gallows back where he started from. He then meets a holy man and a possessed man, gets captured by the Spanish Inquisition, gets rescued by the Zoto brothers, a group of bandits that were supposed to be dead, he also meets a Sheikh and drinks from a goblet and again awakens by the gallows, then meets and befriends a Caballist and the leader of a band of Gypsies etc etc..... Based on a novel by Jan Potocki, "The Manuscript found in Saragossa", Has's film has been for a long time a forgotten film. It won some awards when it was initially released, though it received a severely edited release in the US before it disappeared from public consciousness. Jerry Garcia is famed for his love of the film, he tried many times to get the rights to it, with the help of Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, they finally succeeded, but failed to do so before Garcia's death. The Saragossa Manuscript is a Quixotic labyrinthine epic that really needs multiple viewings in order to gain any real sense of it, contained within are flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks, jumping back and forward in time, it will truly test the patience of the average film fan. Its mighty 3hr+ running time may not help matters much either. Writing this i cannot honestly claim to know what its all about, what its hidden meanings and metaphors pertain to, i think its one of those films that will get better with subsequent viewings as it slowly reveals its mysteries to the dedicated viewer. Visually its a real treat, its crisp black and white film makes the figures jump with life from the screen, DP Mieczyslaw Jahoda makes great use of the wonderful period setting, his fluid constantly moving camera adding a great depth to the overall feeling of authenticity. There are also many remarkable visual tricks that i still haven't worked out how they were done, one in particular towards the end where we see Alphonse in the Inn, he opens a door and there in a desert he sees himself with the two Moorish princesses, his double approaches him and they meet face to face in what it turns out is a mirror, astounding! The cast are for the most part excellent, but too numerous to single out. As a film it explores many avenues, comedy, tragedy, romance, religious zealotry, eroticism, forbidden love, incest, the list goes on, so its a credit to Has that any cohesion at all comes from the final product. I'm still reeling after my first viewing, can't for a repeat. The ending is also pretty cool and messes with your head just a bit about all that went before.
