10 Movie Documentaries Better Than The Actual Movie

Though for decades it seemed cursed to never happen, Terry Gilliam finally completed his long-gestating film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2018, which ultimately released to mixed reviews from critics.

Gilliam's struggle to get the film made was astoundingly immortalised in the incredible doc, Lost in La Mancha, which depicts Gilliam's first attempt to make his Don Quixote movie in 2000, and was intended to be a making-of companion piece to the film.

The initial aborted shoot was beset by all manner of issues, such as sets being destroyed by floods, original Don Quixote actor Jean Rochefort suffering a debilitating back injury, and investors pulling out suddenly.

As heartbreaking as the experience clearly was for Gilliam, it nevertheless makes for compulsive car crash viewing, offering an uncommonly intimate window into how the cinematic sausage is made - or not, as the case may be.

As much of a relief as it is that Gilliam finally got to bring his vision to the big screen, ironically the end result wasn't nearly as compelling as his own quixotic filmmaking odyssey.

Evidently, it was the journey that mattered more than the destination.