The Wikipedia entry for The Saragossa Manuscript at one point states, "Multiple viewings of the film are recommended in order to comprehend the plot." To call this an understatement would be putting it mildly - Wojciech Has's three hour epic adaptation of Jan Potocki's 1815 novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa is a beautiful, often baffling movie structured as multiple tales-within-tales. Two army officers discover the manuscript in a deserted house during the Napoleonic Wars and proceed to translate it, unraveling a series of events which transpired years before. Featuring a host of symbolism which seems to prefigure the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky, fusing folklore and the Cabala with supernatural elements, it's a movie in which the surreal imagery and thematic juxtapositions becomes as ambiguous as the dreams experienced by the characters. A nod of respect towards Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese is warranted, without whom The Saragossa Manuscript might never have reached the wider audience it deserves.
