The irony of Gilliam taking on Cervantes's windmill-chasing hero is not lost on Gilliam or the makers of this film – indeed, if anything, no one seems at all surprised that the film ultimately came to nothing, despite perfect casting and a unique vision in translating the tale for the screen. Gilliam acknowledges having the film running in his head for about a decade before he actually put anything to film, and he's well aware of Orson Welles's similarly failed attempt to produce a movie version of the story. Quixote, of course, pursued his unrealistic dreams until reality caused him to renounce his deluded ideals, and this is exactly what happens to Gilliam in trying to direct the ill-fated movie. He's got every detail in place in his mind, but when it comes time to roll the cameras, he has to contend with countless unforeseen obstacles, including a flash-flood, a lead actor stricken with a bad prostate condition, and insurance troubles that cause the film's financing to collapse. It's more than a little heartbreaking to watch Gilliam's own Quixotic optimism turn to frustration and cursing when things don't pan out – and what little footage of the film is shown indicates that this very well should have been Gilliam's masterwork. Though the documentary has the quality of a cheesy "Making Of" that you'd normally find buried in the Special Features menu of a DVD, its content is so instructive and revealing that it stands well on its own merits. And given that Gilliam's Quixote will most likely never be seen, this film is, in the end, a quietly amazing piece of cinema that speaks of those projects that never reach an audience, instead existing only in the creator's mind—and these may be the coolest projects of all, because it's so much more fun to speculate than criticize. Perhaps twenty years from now we'll all be talking about the movie in question with the same reverent tones that music geeks use when addressing Brian Wilson's Smile.
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