Upon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.The film was released in Poland uncut at 182 minutes, but it was shortened for release in the U.S. and UK at 147 minutes and 125 minutes, respectively. During the 1990s Jerry Garcia, together with Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, financed a restoration and subtitling of an uncut print of the film. The restored film, re-released in 2001, is commercially available in VHS and DVD formats.The film is among 21 digitally restored classic Polish films chosen for Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema.I don't even know that this needs a review. It is a great film, although a bit long for the casual viewer. When you have Scorsese and Coppola both endorsing a film, that is a great sign. Then throw in Luis Bunuel, and you know you have something special. But Jerry Garcia? I highly doubt any other film can claim such a diverse range of fans.

Sorry but I'm really not going to jump on the bandwagon with this one. What could had been a great but foremost entertaining, epic movie, just wasn't.That's really the biggest problem of the movie; it just isn't very entertaining. The movie started out alright and it actually looked like this was going to be a likable adventure movie but it very soon turned into one that consisted only out of a bunch of uninteresting characters, sitting down and talking to each other.And that's all this movie was to me really; talk, talk, talk! And that for 3 hours long. No, I found very little enjoyment in this movie, though I still can't rate it poorly, since it's definitely a good looking movie and got skilfully put together, by director Wojciech Has.I loved the fact that the movie looked as if it was going to be an adventurous story of almost epic proportions, in perhaps the same style as an ancient Greek tale, filled with strange situations and unusual characters that had to be dealt with. But imagining my disappointment when the movie started heading into a totally different and far less interesting direction. I expected to love every second of this movie but I ended up counting the seconds for this movie to end.In that regard this movie really reminded me of the movie "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", which is also an highly rated one by about everybody else but is one I just couldn't like. It's similar because both are movies that present themselves as big, long, adventurous, fun movies, that however in my opinion totally forgot to deliver on its entertainment. What they also have in common is that their main character really isn't that interesting or likable. I like Zbigniew Cybulski (the Polish James Dean) and all but I just couldn't really like his character in this movie.I wouldn't exactly say that I was bored with this movie, it just was one that couldn't ever really interest me. Not with its story, not with its characters, not with its humor, not with its entertainment, not with its settings. In other words, with nothing really. I won't start yelling that I want these 3 hours of my life back but I will say that 3 hours is a long time for watching a movie that I never really liked.One thing I did like was the way the movie looked. Even though I didn't liked the movie very much it still was obvious to me what a talented director Wojciech Has was. He had a very visual and a bit of a surreal approach, which he added to the movie. Who knows, maybe I'll still end up loving some of his other worked, since I'm normally also actually quite fond of Polish cinema.There is nothing really horrible about this movie. It just was one I never got into and cared about, mostly because it to me never became interesting and/or entertaining enough.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Based on IMDb score and comments, I was expecting to see a movie on the same level as The Seventh Seal or The Da Vinci Code. A major disappointment. In this movie they tried to combine the horror of apparitions and Dante Inferno landscapes with the light comedy of foppish main characters and silly a-ladder-at-Madame's-bedroom-window scenes. If that wasn't bad enough, they kept branching off on long back-story lines, making it hard to keep track of the characters and where we were at, plus killing any hope of building foreboding or suspense. Minimal character development. Minimal narrative drive. No laughs, not even a good chuckle. No tension. No satisfying ending. A total waste of time.

I agree with the first review of this movie wholeheartedly. This is an excellent movie to be watched over and over. The mood, the pacing, the cinematography are all world class.I stumbled upon this gem one day while browsing through the movies in the DVD section. What a find. It can be watched on a rainy night while sipping mulled wine or early in the morning with strong, black coffee and the rising sun. I've done both with bouts of insomnia and with good results.Please take a leap and watch this amazing journey on film.