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• Honour of the Knights on DVD (2006)
  Starring: Lluis Carbo,  Lluis Serrat
  Director: Albert Serra
  Certificate:
  Albert Serra's stunning re-interpretation of Don Quixote is, as other reviewers have noted, an intensely minimalist piece. There's no action here, not in the swashbuckling sense of the word, but a little Sancho-esque patience with Serra's subtle stylisation (long takes, handheld camerawork, etc.) will be rewarded with a truly unique cinematic experience.
  
  Scenes of Quixote bathing in a natural swimming pool, his frail body swaying in the heavy hilltop winds, or his gentle discourses on God's creation portray above all his profound sensitivity to the natural environment - a beautifully realised Catalan summer landscape. I cannot even begin to comprehend the technical genius that it took to photograph this with the Sony PD150 - the same camera used on Lynch's 'Inland Empire' - which here shows a remarkable sensitivity to natural light and is more classically picturesque than many 35mm films.
  
  Quixote and Sancho are bathed in a natural mystery here, and one that reflects even more mysteriously as an adaptation of Cervantes' vision - as Quixote screams for his enemies, are we to take this purely as a delusional fantasy? Or are we witnessing something like Quixote's 'Last Days' - as evidenced by his melancholy meditations on death, and leaving Sancho behind..? Wisely and evocatively, we never get a definitive answer, but as the film slowly envelops them in a final darkness, its enigmatic power left me truly amazed.   2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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