It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Upon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.The film was released in Poland uncut at 182 minutes, but it was shortened for release in the U.S. and UK at 147 minutes and 125 minutes, respectively. During the 1990s Jerry Garcia, together with Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, financed a restoration and subtitling of an uncut print of the film. The restored film, re-released in 2001, is commercially available in VHS and DVD formats.The film is among 21 digitally restored classic Polish films chosen for Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema.I don't even know that this needs a review. It is a great film, although a bit long for the casual viewer. When you have Scorsese and Coppola both endorsing a film, that is a great sign. Then throw in Luis Bunuel, and you know you have something special. But Jerry Garcia? I highly doubt any other film can claim such a diverse range of fans.

"The Saragossa Manuscript" is certainly an authentic masterpiece. Although its' duration is nearly 3 hours, the interest of the spectator does not fade in any part of the film. It is a fairy tale which contains several stories, something that could cause a confusion to the viewer. Here, we speak of something completely different. The narration flows so well that leads to the interference of the sub stories naturally, with no need of cheap tricks, which are very often used by many modern filmmakers at their vain attempts to imitate "Pulp Fiction". The artistic part is excellent and acting is brilliant from all the participants. Highly recommended!!! Νevertheless, its' fame is not so well spread as it deserves and possibilities of bumping into it is only at late night screenings of a national TV network or at a marginal cinema theater.

This could have been one of the all time great films, and maybe the best adaptation ever, but for me it failed, and because the idea of the book would work so well in film its failure, for me, makes it even more disappointing. For the book was not perfect, though great, the book suffered from using a technique which does not hold very well with the written word, the coarse editing and stop start endless descriptions of time and place disrupt any sense of poetry/flow and thus dull its overall purpose, making it very clinical in tone. However, these techniques, which fail with words, are exactly what make films flow and turn them into poetry, and this film flowed beautifully and effortlessly between scenes, leaving the core of the story unblemished and indeed enhanced by the sudden changes. Where as the book was heavy this film was light. But unfortunately instead of continuing the string of stories into a deep maze (like the book) it merely took a handful of the best bits, reworked the narrative and completely changed the ending, leaving a very weak and simple film behind (completely unlike the book).If this had the guts to be several hours longer, take a lot more of the book and follow its narrative then it would of completely solved the flaws of the book and out done it in every respect. So on the one hand you have a book which technically fails but in ambition succeeds and on the other hand a film which technically could of succeeded but fails in ambition. This book, for me, was a film before film, but its film version lacked guts: jan potocki asked his readers to devote many evenings to reading his book, unfortunately the makers of this film didn't have the confidence to demand more than a few hours from its viewers. Such a shame.on a side note the score is excellent, and very humorous, but like the film, and maybe because of the film, wasn't taken to any great depths. i would of loved to of seen the Velasquez story followed and heard Penderecki's scoring to the Saraband scene 'forget science and reason all you need do my son is learn to dance the Saraband'. ohwell.

Although to many viewers, this film may seem tediously slow-moving at times, I found it visually and aurally fascinating. Each frame is a like a brilliant black and white photograph and I can still remember vividly (but not adequately describe in words) many of the recurring sound effects.I love period pieces, with soldiers in uniforms, horses, and unusual, quirky and colorful characters. This film is in black and white and Polish is spoken throughout (with English subtitles.) I like to think of it as a morality tale, an ongoing battle of good and evil, where the protagonist Van Worden is being forced to make choices for which he must bear the consequences.Zbigniew Cybulski, as the lost dragoon, seems to be a rather helpless, hapless and likable "everyman" as he tries to figure out what is happening to him (or to his character Von Worden.) I rarely get a chance to see it on the big screen but it has been released on DVD. If it plays at a movie theater near you, embrace the opportunity to share it with an "off-beat cinema"-loving friend or an off-beat friend who loves cinema.