Americans do not read books

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2006)

This movie is a very good paraphrase of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Raspe. The main character is a great liar who sees the world differently; nobody believes him but eventually his lies prove to be true - who is that, Ed Bloom or Baron Munchausen? Both. The stories Ed Bloom tells are the same stories Baron Munchause told - with the small adjustments: the car risen up on the tree by the flies substituted for the original horse. The director, Tim Burton was making fun of his illiterate compatriots and the audience bought it. Had he made a footnote or give a credit to the book author who lived in Germany in the 18th century, that would be an honest attitude and a few professional movie critics might go to the library and read the book afterward. Since he pretended he never heard the name Baron Munchausen, the movie remains a straightforward plagiarism.