FEATURE REVIEWS Historical Films
Time Bandits Handmade Films 2 DVD Special Edition Shock DVD While we are romping through history, we should remember that the overall theme has already been explored in Terry Gilliam’s wonderful “Time Bandits”. Co-written with Michel Palin, the 1981 film manages to lampoon time travellers, good and bad, Creation, and a number of periods of time and historical figures. This is pretty much what you would expect from a bunch of exMonty Pythons. The story is of a group of dwarves who have stolen a map of The Firmament. It was built in a rush job, since it had to be done in only six days, and there are weaknesses in reality where time portals open and close. The map shows where these are. The dwarves intend to use the portals to go from era to era looting and pillaging. They accidentally pick up an English schoolboy, Kevin, along the way. One time portal opens in the back of his bedroom closet. From here the story is a set of brief interludes with some great actors playing cameo roles. There is the height-obsessed Napoleon (Ian Holm) who knows the height of every world conqueror and has noted that they are all short, like him. So why is everyone else so tall? Sean Connery plays King Agamemnon. He is quite willing to adopt young Kevin as his son until the dwarves snatch Kevin away again. John Cleese turns in a great performance as the
The Map vacuous insincere politician Robin Hood. “So you’re a robber, are you? How long have you been a robber? Four foot one? That’s a long time” All is not well, though. The Supreme Being wants his map back as it shows a way to release the Evil One from his Fortress of Ultimate Darkness. The Evil One wants to be free as he thinks the Supreme Being has lost his touch and become obsessed with things like forty three varieties of parakeet and nipples on men. If he can take over the world he can run it on truly efficient technological lines. There will be a confrontation where Kevin will learn a lot about true friendship. Time Bandits is a great film in the best Monty Python tradition. Unfortunately it is not as wellknown as, say, Life of Brian, but even though it was made around thirty years ago it is still worth revisiting.
The Bandits Synergy Magazine Volume 3: No.5
Page 52