Back in 2005, Cult Epics released THE FERNANDO ARRABAL COLLECTION 1 in a limited edition boxed set of 4,000 copies, which featured the rarely seen THE GUERNICA TREE. Five years later, Cult Epics unveils the second Fernando Arrabal Collection with 5 rare films which have never been on DVD. This set is also a limited edition, but at half of the production to only 2,000 copies! Arrabal has been a major influence in surreal cinema and has received many awards in his lifetime and with Alojandro Jodorowski and Roland Toper, began the Panic Movment and this set rounds out a fascinating and highly original cinematic career. The films in this set are CAR CEMETERY, FAREWELL, BABYLON!, THE EMPEROR OF PERU (PACIFIC ODYSSEY), BORGES: A LIFE IN POETRY, and ARRABAL, PANIC CINEASTE.

THE EMPORER OF PERU

If you were to parallel the works of Fernando Arrabal to David Lynch, surely THE EMPEROR OF PERU would be the equivalent to THE STRAIGHT STORY. In contrast to Arrabal's other films like I WILL WALK LIKE A CRAZY HORSE or VIVA LA MUERTE, which are highly symbolic, political poems, THE EMPEROR OF PERU, released in 1982, is a children's fable that keeps things real, despite having the mind of children's fantasy. 

When two kids, Liz (Anick) and Toby (Jonathan Starr) have a potentially new adopted brother, Houng (Ku Huot Uk), a Cambodian refugee, they set out on their own to discover the land on their bikes for a picnic. In their travels they come across a crippled man who declares himself The Emporer of Peru (Mickey Rooney). He will eventually teach them all about how to run a genuine steam engine that the kids had discovered (originally belonging to The Emporer). Toby, the young boy is always in the clouds, dreaming of his future and what daring obsctacles he will come across and how he will rectify the situation while admired by his fans. Liz helps remind Toby to stay on the ground and also gives a dose of reality. Houng, is uncertain about his future, but is constantly reminded of his horrific past.

In some close moments, Liz and Houng talk and we learn his mother is still in Cambodia waiting to get on a boat, while his father is locked in a concentration camp. Together with the Emporer, they all decide that the place to take the train is to Cambodia so that they can reunite Houng with his mother, who declares that is the woman he is going to marry. I guess we get a little dose of some Freudian nature, but its done innocently enough where it has an endearing quality than any type of psychological issue. 

Arrabal nicely arranges the contrast of the fantasy sequences of Toby, who is off in his own world, usually about to do some crowd pleasing act as fans look on, but something goes wrong. Luckily, Toby is always ready for such an instance and will rectify the problem in an instant. The people are amazed by his genius. Each dream sequence has an announcer that narrates the issue as if everything he was doing was a sport or being broadcast by the news. In opposition, Houng is haunted by his past life in Cambodia as he has to leave his mother, or the terror and torture he endured that pose a realism that he cannot get past. This is sort of the meeting place of the film, that of future/past and fantasy/reality. Arrabal must have been asking if these two can merge into one, yet at the same time, keeping control of the story, never lets go of the reality, no matter how much he likes to play in the fantasy. The story maintains its course like the locomotive it becomes.

He seems to pull it off without any glitches in the tracks. The Emperor of Peru, played by Rooney is perfectly cast as a somewhat boisterous, goofy, but likeably nut that the children believe in. He has a sense of reality to his wits, but certainly lives in a realm that most people cannot credit to their existence. He helps teach the children the ways of the steam locomotive so that they can reach Cambodia - even if thats an impossibility unto itself, no one ever questions that matter. THE EMPORER OF PERU is a nice fable that is pleasing, even if it does not tug at your heart strings, it will certainly give you a stir, especially Toby's cute dream sequences.

The transfer looks very good. I dont see any "ghosting" to suggest its a PAL conversion. As stated, it is a new high definition transfer in 16x9 widescreen. The DVD is a bare bones release with not even a trailer. It does have audio options to have original French with subtitles, or English language, which Rooney speaks in English, so it works out fine. Cult Epics does a nice job with this release.

THE SHORT DOCUMENTARIES BONUS DISC

This disc is only available in this set and features 3 documentaries. All of them seem to have a strange, childish theme song through it all. I think its from one of his other films, but I am not certain. As a collection they serve to complete ones filmography of Arrabal on DVD, individually they are up for debate as to how interesting they are. On some level they serve as experiments, in another turn they certainly have a point.

 FAREWELL BABYLON!

Fernando Arrabal's FAREWELL BABYLON! is a narration of his 1969 novel of the same title. While the name suggests little, what you see in the film might be better titled as Mondo Arrabal. As you obliquely dive into the world of Arrabal through the meanderings of Leila Fischer through the streets of New York, there seems to be little congruence between what she does and the narration. The tone of New York in 1992, when this film was released, is interesting, culturally speaking as we can see shadows of the late 80's in its participants. 

There seems to be a mixture of staged sequences in the streets of New York, sprinkled with clips from I WILL WALK LIKE A CRAZY HORSE, THE EMPORER OF PERU, VIVA LAMUERTE and THE GUERNICA TREE, wrapped up with Leila experiencing New York as it happens. We also get some familiar faces like Spike Lee and Mario Van Peebles along with with scientific, athletic and artistic personalities, none of whom have a voice, but are merely representatives of their culture. The soundtrack is equally on its own track as there is no theme or purpose other than to play music. The range is all over the place from 50's rock to classical to World music.

The transfer seems to come direct from a video source, judgeing from the some slight waves at the beginning of the film, which goes away quickly. The soundis good and clear and the picture is relatively sharp, given that it was shot on video. It is presented in original full frame. The package does not indicate a remastering of this title. FAREWELL BABYLON! is certainly an interesting film, but is really of interest to Arrabal enthusiasts. 

BORGES: A LIFE IN POETRY (JORGE LUIS BORGES: INA VIDA PE POESIA)

This 60-minute documentary featuring the last interview with author Jorge Luis Borges stands as a remark on the philosophy of Borges life in words. He spoke mostly through his understanding of art as it relates to life and how one is to live authentically. It seems that Arrabal followed similar paths in this way where, to quote Borges quoting the painter Whistler, "Art happens". According to Borges, that is art is as natural as a tree growing or the sky is blue. Arrabal, I believe, seems to have put this philosophy forth in many of his films, having an organic quality to his work, even if at times one may feel burdened by his symbolism, they are never asked to be figured out at the same time. 

My problem with this documentary is it has the same feel and tempo as FAREWELL BABYLON! where, we see Borges speaking, and then it is intermittently cut up with strange images, sounds, many of which are redundancies where you feel like you just saw the same clips and even the same soundtrack! Which is surprising coming from such a unique director that a seemingly exact approach to a new work would result in something nearly identical. It is as if he did both of these documentaries in the same sitting, despite this film being made in 1998. I would have liked to seen a more continuous monologue of Borges because I really enjoyed listening to his experiences and philosphy that made up his work. I am not a big fan of his books, but, listening to him gave me a deeper appreciation of the man. 

Again, this was shot on video and looks and sounds good. Like the previous effort, Arrabal enthusiasts will love this, but also fans of Borges will really like hearing him speak, although they might grow tiresome of the interuptions from Arrabal with clips from his own movies. The film is presented in full frame.

ARRABAL, PANIC CINEASTE

The final 60-minute film on this disc is a documentary of Fernando Arrabal himself, exploring his life and art from the man himself.  We also get to hear other voices, such as Alejandro Jodoroski who is well known as a contemporary of Arrabal, discusses his work and family life. Of the three, this is a much more forward documentary of the style and influence Arrabal would have on other artists that have either worked with him or were inspired by his works. The film focuses on his film career, even though one might argue its not as prominent as his writings, yet his films would have the greatest impact. 

Panic Cinema is a sub-genre of the surrealist movement that was named by Jodorowski in honor of the god Pan, but also inspired by Luis Bunuel and Antonin Artaud's Theater of Cruelty. The idea was to evoke confusion through pain, according to Arrabal. At its most central idea, it is a performance kind of art, but was implemented within cinematic terms by Arrabal and Jodorowski, such as in his film FANDO AND LIS or THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, where for Arrabal it was I WILL TALK LIKE A CRAZY HORSE and VIVA LA MUERTE. 

Overall this documentary gives a good overview of Arrabal's career and his influences as well as his thoughts and experiences in making the films. Equally, hearing those that have worked with him and his style of making films is just as enlightening to the rawness of his films. Not so much relying on the film as a whole, but sometimes capturing the moment as it happens, which are unscripted and spontaneous. 

As a whole, this collection of documentaries are worth looking through, especially for those that revel in surrealist art. I think these are more effective when you have already covered his more important feature films and have a ready knowledge of the Panic Movement. The cover art to this collection does not give credit to where it comes from, but its alchemical-like quality seems to be an overstatement of what the contents are. The collection runs complete at 179 minutes, all in Full Frame in French with optional English subtitles. While its welcome in the collection, I think its audience is restricted to Arrabal and Jodorowski lovers.

CAR CEMETERY

Besides his previous works, I WILL WALK... and VIVA..., CAR CEMETERY (also released under the title THE AUTOMOBILE GRAVEYARD) is perhaps Arrabal's most important film. Its a film made for television and released in 1983. This has never been released on home video in the US, so this is its debut anywhere.

The story is a rather straight forward retelling of the Christ story, albeit modified for a punk-style underground version. I wont go through all of the changes as they will be obvious to most, but the main thing you should know is Emanou (Alan Banshing) is the Jesus character, while the mother figure is Dali (Juliet Berto). The people are deprived of music, however, and Emanou is their savior from this lack of beautiful sound. So, he promises them a concert, but before he can do that, he must purify the people. So comes the miracles.

You will see all the various miracles being performed, almost straight out of the New Testament. The major changes are the locations, where the sacred land is the Car Cemetery. On the surface, there is the police, or the authorities, acting as the Romans might, except with a limited army. The two main police have heard of this automobile graveyard and are searching for it. In the meantime of their search, they are within a barren land of concrete doing many physical activities.

The main reason the people seek out the graveyard is to giveup their prison, so to speak, and live in a free world to express at will their desires and tabboo's that are normally looked down upon from the higher authorities. 

Besides the gross symbolism of retelling the Christ story, there are subtelties which makes this film rise above what might have been a pop-culture translation into modern form and rescues it into the realm of art. The police seem to be suspended to their life by the physical world, thus the physical activities of working out, or running. Even sex is just a physical exercise where they are not present minded. Those in the graveyard are in search of releasing themselves from that type of existence. It might be argued whether these people are doing anything spiritual, however, the spiritual in this sense is what might be condemned as taboo. The taboo that Arrabal is suggesting here are those aspects  that are no longer repressed, but rather one gives into their desires, almost hedonically. I do not believe he is suggesting to obey any feeling that comes to them, as these people are not killers. One might interpret a Freudian symbolism of this that the people underground serve as Id, while the police are Superego. 

Aside from the story of Christ, the film is full of Arrabal style filmmaking with lots of nude women running around, homosexuality, and strange environments that make the atmosphere complete. It is liken to a punk carnival with no real performance to watch upon besides those that live there. This was his last feature film to date. 

This is a "new high definition transfer" and looks very good. Sound quality is clear and presented in widescreen. The bonus features here are ony trailers for other Arrabal films, and its more of a marketing function as CAR CEMETERY is the only disc from this set that is getting a single-disc release, so the disc will be the same for those that decide to get the single disc and be able to see the other trailers.

IN SUM

As a collection, CAR CEMETERY will certainly be the highlight of the set while THE EMPORER OF PERU will certainly be a charming and welcome addition. The documentaries are for particular tastes where I felt they were a mixed bag. Cult Epics does a nice job with releasing this set in their usual high quality boxed package with individual keep cases. There are no inserts, unfortunately, nor is there any special features on any of the discs, so it is lacking in that department. As mentioned, this set is a limited edition of only 2,000 copies and so will not be around forever, but for most interested should have no problem getting a copy.

As a note, the first collection, limited to 4,000 copies and has the third title THE GUERNICA TREE, are still available on Amazon, as well as the single discs I WILL WALK LIKE A CRAZY HORSE and VIVA LA MUERTE.  For more inforation, visit the Cult Epics website.