Barbarosa
by Fred Schepisi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Danny De La Paz, Gary Busey, Gilbert Roland, Isela Vega, Willie NelsonDirector: Fred Schepisi
Brand: Lions Gate
Cinematographer: Ian Baker
Editor: David Ramirez
Editor: Don Zimmerman
Producer: Martin Starger
Producer: Paul Lazarus III
Producer: William D. Wittliff
Writer: William D. Wittliff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-18
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of Barbarosa
Movie Review: Living inside a legend
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's an unjustly overlooked film that's full to the brim with energy, gusto, humor & fascinating, larger than life characters. Willie Nelson's Barbarosa & Gary Busey's Karl make a perfect pair, mentor & student, father figure & son, as they live out the myth created by Don Braulio (a superbly intense, embittered Gilbert Roland).
What makes this especially interesting is Barbarosa's knowledge that he's living out a story, participating in its ongoing creation, even commenting on it at times: the legendary outlaw who is both the foe & driving force of an equally legendary family. Don Braulio's myth-making has raised his people out of poverty & given them pride & strength. He knows it, he knows how much he owes to Barbarosa's continued presence -- a presence he reinforces with consciously symbolic storytelling to the awed children destined to sustain the myth unto the next generation. In a story made up of intertwining lives & families, in many ways the strongest relationship is the one between Barbarosa & Don Braulio.
At one point we're even treated to a scene of Barbarosa eavesdropping on someone singing a new song about Barbarosa's latest exploit, already inflated beyond what we'd previously witnessed onscreen. Barbarosa is flattered, amused -- after hearing a particularly good line, he mutters in admiration, "Son of a b*tch can write!" -- until the song comes to the part where they kill Barbarosa. The way Nelson's face & voice both go flat speaks volumes. Barbarosa knows that he's trapped in his own myth, which he's help to perpetuate, and that he's got to play it out to the end.
And let's not forget the importance of the blistering, wide-open landscape, which is practically another personality itself. The cinematography gives us the desert, the mountains, the plains in heat-soaked color & grandeur, an eternal & timeless country strong enough to bear the weight of legendary men.
It's hard to believe this film isn't better known. It has everything you could want from a great story: romance, tragedy, picaresque humor, startling shifts from the everyday to the extraordinary. And the actors give it their all, with plenty to spare. To top it off, it has one of the best, most joyous, make-the-hair-on-your-skin-stand-up-straight endings I've ever seen in a film. Most highly recommended!
(The previous reviewers are right about the crying need for a widescreen version of this DVD. This film absolutely demands it. Preferably with commentary by Nelson & Busey.)
Summary of Barbarosa
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