Wojciech Jerzy Has directed the adaptation of Jan Potocki’s novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa in 1965 and Bruno Schulz’s Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass in 1973. These are two of his best-known films and have won him the admiration of international cinema greats like David Lynch and Luis Buñuel.
Has adapted Schulz's work in a time when Poland was still struggling with the aftermath of the 1968 anti-Semitic campaigns that led to the exile of large numbers of Polish Jews. He snuck the film out of Poland and brought it to Cannes, where it won the jury prize. When he returned to Poland he found he wasn't allowed to make another film for almost a decade. And yet it has been acknowledged that the film industry of the west would never have supported the production of such a strange art film. The film was remastered and brought back to the screen in Poland and around the world in 2009 thanks to the efforts of two American directors - Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead.
In The Hourglass Sanatorium a young man named Joseph (Jan Nowicki) visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father Jakob (Tadeusz Konrad). Upon his arrival, a sinister doctor informs him that his father had stopped breathing but hasn’t died yet, perhaps due to Joseph’s arrival which may have halted time in the sanatorium. Joseph undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the sanatorium, each of which conjures worlds composed of his memories, dreams and nightmares. The narrative follows a thin line between reality and fantasy, with ornate sets and byzantine imagery full of strange and macabre characters.
The Saragossa Manuscript is set during Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. Two soldiers discover a strange manuscript at an inn which chronicles the adventures of Alfonso van Worden. Alfonso’s passage through the dangerous Sierra Morena mountains is repeatedly interrupted by seemingly random encounters with an assortment of larger than life figures. The film weaves together fantastic tales of Moorish princesses, picaresque adventurers and the Spanish Inquisition. Many major international filmmakers have cited the film as one of their favourites, including Luis Buñuel who called it "exceptional" and David Lynch who called it "one mother of a film". Comic artist Neil Gaiman described it as "a labyrinth inside a maze" that is both frightening and comical in its mind-bending exploration of human nature.
The films are available on Amazon.com starting the 29th of March 2012.
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: www.mrbongo.com, literalab.com