Day 37: Time Bandits
Terry Gilliam’s wonderful “Time Bandits” is a light hearted adventure drizzled with a social commentary on the evils of consumerism. Though some would call this fantasy fare a “kids movie,” it’s far more than that, as Gilliam whips up a story that hits on multiple age levels. While children are certainly represented through the main character and his exicting adventures, it is the more adult centered discussion on blind consumtion and theology that holds as the backbone to all the fun.
In “Time Bandits,” we meet Kevin, a bright eleven-year-old boy, whose parents show very little interest in him or his love of history as they consume their time with television and the newest in household gadgets. But Kevin soon gains the interest of many when, one night, seven dwarves, Randall, Fidgit, Strutter, Og, Wally, and Vermin, jump out of his bedroom closet and take him on an adventure through time and space. For these seven little travelers had been working for the Supreme Being, the creator of all things, repairing time holes throughout the galaxy and, have just ditched their work to instead set off with the time hole map in an attempt to jump through differant historical events and steal what they can for themselves.
Now a part of their little (no pun intended) criminal band, Kevin finds himself facing the likes of the vertically challenged Napoleon (Ian Holm), the glib Robin Hood (John Cleese), and the brave King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) as he and the bandits make their way through time. But, when a coniving sorcerer, known only as Evil, steals the time hole map and plans to destroy the universe- recreating it as a technology based existence with no need for silly things like trees and grass- it will be up to Kevin and the Time Bandits to stop him and set things, in both time and space, back in order.
The beauty of Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” is how, as I’ve mentioned before, he has conjured up a tale exciting enough for kids, but deep enough for adults as well- digging into the topic of consumerism and the concept of theology. With a great mix of subtlety and humor, Gilliam makes a statement about excessive buying by showing it as foolish and then taking it a step further by making it the reason behind Evil’s plan.
At the very beginning of the film, we watch Kevin’s parents sit slackjawed, watching televison and making comments about how their neighbors have the fastest of the new appliances while they just have the fast ones. This absurdity of having the “new new” seems far fetched until you think upon the technology race of today as the newest products grow obsolete in a span of less than two years and everyone finds themselves once again in the cashier’s line.
But Gilliam doesn’t stop there on chastising the buying culture. Upon stealing the map from Kevin and the Bandits, Evil desires to create a world based around technology, abandoning the need for nature. At one point he quips, “ If I were creating the world I wouldn’t mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o’clock, Day One!” What is intriguing about Evil’s idea of the perfect world is that Gilliam’s very next film, his dark humored magnum opus “Brazil,” centers itself in a world very much as he describes.
On the subject of theology, “Time Bandits” takes the concepts of God and the Devil and adds a fresh, though still rather conservatively based, definition to the characters. In Evil we find a character who is certainly what his name suggests, but also seems a tad bored with the goings on around him as well as easily annoyed by his henchmen. At one point, a thug stupidly reminds Evil that he was created by God and so he can’t be as powerful. With a twitch of a finger, the dark lord blows him to smitheries and yells, “I made me!”- an interesting aspect of the character, which seems to run deeper than just plain haughtiness.
In the Supreme Being we find a version of God, which is very much founded in his Old Testament interpretation, but also rather casually self aware of his position. Though we first witness him as a large bright head, later he transforms to an upright British gentleman, an image he claims to prefer. Though he does do right by Kevin and the Time Bandits, he is rather passive about the whole thing and a little put off- treating the group like a bunch of naughty school children. In fact, he seems rather disinterested by everything. When asked why he would create Evil in the first place, he shrugs and mumbles, “It has something to do with free will I believe.”
With “Time Bandits,” Gilliam delivers a film full of breezy adventure, but also heavy in its own funny way. Though it certainly has a message to deliver, it doesn’t seem interested in pushing it down anyone’s throat and, by being so easy going, the message itself becomes more intriguing. For in “Time Bandits,” you can take or leave the subtext, but, either way, you’re going to have an amazing journey.
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