Major Soviet era director Grigori Kozintsev, also known for his seminal adaptations of Hamlet and King Lear (click to see my reviews of those two), created the first colour movie version of Cervantes’ epic novel Don Quixote. Published in Spain in 1605, and also taking place then and there, Cervantes’ Don Quixote is an admired classic that is usually placed at the very core of the literary canon, alongside the works of Shakespeare and Goethe. The story is a satire on old-fashioned chivalry. The ideas and practises of chivalry flourished from the 11th through to the 15th centuries, and became legendary already in its own era. The knight in shining armor (and, in the idealized stereotype, on a white horse) was the gallant warrior-hero of the day, who fought injustice (including, in the popular imagination, evil wizards, lions and dragons!) everywhere and was a paragon of honour and virtue. He did all this in the name of the highborn lady he had chosen to love, and for whom he would willingly lay down his life.
Of course, these elements are all iconic clichés which would have been rather watered down in actuality, but whether or not they were alive in real life, they certainly flourished in the art and literature of the middle ages and inspired people far and wide. By the turn of the 17th century in the late Renaissance, however, new trends had long since taken over and the lofty ideals of chivalry had become ripe for parody. So Miguel de Cervantes decided to write a last hurrah for chivalry.
The tale of Don Quixote is the tale of an old man who have read too many books on chivalry, and so in his demented dotage start imagining himself to be a knight-errant. A local peasant girl that he likes is transformed into the noble lady Dulcinea del Toboso, who becomes his idealized courtly mistress, in whose honour he immediately sets off, in full armor, on a quest to do heroic deeds and slay an evil wizard. He takes with him as his squire the bored peasant Sancho Panza, who dreams of becoming the governor of an island.
Everywhere the pair goes, they become the butt of ridicule and jesting from the people they meet, especially the nobility. They reach a court where the wealthy prince and his retinue even sets up Sancho Panza as the governor of a village (claiming it is an island), just for fun. Panza is a surprisingly just governor, who quickly becomes well-loved by the people. Meanwhile, Don Quixote is shuttled back to his own village, where the local smart boy, Samson Carrasco, has just returned from his education, a newly minted Bachelor full of new ideas. He keeps going on about how science knows so much in this advanced year of 1605, and takes it upon himself to cure Don Quixote of his delusional ailment. Quixote, however, escapes to continue his quest, and ends up fighting a wind-mill that he confuses with the evil wizard. The climax comes when, just after this ordeal which has left Don Quixote utterly spent, another knight appears and challenges him to a joust according to all the rules of chivalry. Will Don Quixote go out in a blaze of glory, with all his honour intact? Watch this brilliant movie and find out!
Kozintsev succeeds in communicating all the major points of this classic tale, especially the abiding pathos of the main character, who is expertly realized by Nikolai Cherkasov. The movie is filmed on location in the Crimea, and the landscape is a splendid stand-in for Spain. The people in the country behave in a convincingly south-European manner, with plenty of physical gesturing and merriment. If you enjoy movie adaptations of classic literature, don’t hesitate to pick up this gem of Soviet era cinema.
The DVD screener has no extras, but the quality is good. Don Quixote is released on disc in the UK on Sept. 24.
Director: Grigori Kozintsev
Cast: Nikolai Cherkasov, Yuri Tolubeyev, Lyudmila Kasyanova, Tamilla Agamirova and others.
Runtime: 102 min.
Country: Soviet Union
Film Rating: 
DVD Rating: 
