Product Details

• Actors: Everett McGill, Maru Valdivielso, Michael Madsen
• Directors: Monte Hellman
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: January 30, 2001
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Y6BH
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,942 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Iguana" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This idiosyncratic twist on Beauty and the Beast was inspired by a real-life 19th-century sailor who enslaved a group of castaways on an island in the Galapagos. Herman Melville turned the story into a sketch in his book The Encantadas, which in turn inspired Alberto Vázquez Figueroa's novel La Iguana. Director Monte Hellman brought in his visions of Phantom of the Opera, and the elements coalesce together in a harshly beautiful story of a horribly scarred sailor who declares war on mankind for all the evils men have perpetrated on him out of fear and intolerance. Everett McGill plays the angry, defiant Oberlus as a ruthless philosopher-dictator, one moment thoughtful and respectful, the next fierce and vengeful. Maru Valdivielso stars as Carmen, a free spirit in the constrictive confines of Spanish society, "a monster" herself for her social transgressions, who is captured by Oberlus and made his sexual slave. It's a hard film to define, neither adventure nor romance, and the subdued drama, stark beauty, and still mood give it a dreamy atmosphere. While not wholly satisfying, Hellman's strange, dark portrait of sex and power in a primal island paradise is certainly fascinating. Michael Madsen costars as Oberlus's first slave who becomes a faithful lieutenant, and Italian star Fabio Testi has a small but memorable role as the vicious nemesis of Oberlus.

Director Monte Hellman joins writer Steven Gaydos, star Everett McGill, and moderator Dennis Bartok to discuss the genesis of the film, with McGill offering a clear-eyed perspective on his approach to his character and Hellman detailing the demands of the production. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed yet compelling mix of the real and the surreal, January 15, 2004

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iguana (DVD)

Monte Hellman's Iguana is a unique film for this director, who previously helmed skewed action films like Two Lane Blacktop and Cockfighter, as well as the equally skewed Westerns Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting.

Here he tells the tale of a 19th century sailor, Oberlus, played by Everett McGill--a man whose face is half normal, half bizarrely deformed, earning him the nickname that gives the film its title. His fellow sailors despise and ridicule him; he escapes to an abandoned isle in the Galapagos to establish his own "kingdom" based on his declaration of war on mankind.

Making those who foolishly dock there his slaves, his kingdom grows to a total of five, aside from him--a studious ship's clerk, a cook, a mute, a beautiful woman, and the rebellious former captain of the ship on which Oberlus sailed. He brutalizes those who disobey him and rapes the woman repeatedly.

In spite of the character's overly dark psychology, Hellman infuses the film with a momentum based on Oberlus' conflicting emotions. The Iguana, as it turns out, is not completely dark. He wants to learn to read and forces the clerk to teach him how. When the woman tells him she's pregnant, his face seems to soften; he then treats her with what appears to be a sense of compassion. The feel of this film is made compelling not so much by the acting, which is fine yet not great, but by the astute portraits of characters who respond to their imprisonment in various ways. For imprisonment can be physical--shown by the leg-irons Oberlus makes his "subjects" wear constantly--or psychological, that is, of course, the prison in which he himself exists.

There are minor problems--McGill really doesn't know how to speak with a convincing accent that seems to be an attempt at Cockney, but doesn't quite make it. And the beheading of one "slave" by another is not credible based on the dialogue that immediately preceded the gruesome event. Yet in spite of these and other small mistakes, this is a film all the more remarkable because it is, in fact, based on a true story.

Not a classic, surely, but an interesting work from a man whose first film was, believe it or not, the Roger Corman produced "The Beast From Haunted Cave". This (Iguana) was Hellman's penultimate film. Interesting that he started with a monster and (almost) ended with one as well...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haunting, mythical, beautiful, August 25, 2002

By 

m j sanderson (doncaster, south yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iguana (DVD)

monte hellman's iguana is a real find. i'm always on the lookout for films that can overwhelm me with their atmosphere and their artistry. only a few films have ever succeeded (friedkin's SORCERER, argento's INFERNO, some of fulci's mid career films). this film is by no means perfect. but what is amazing is how hellman has created a magnificent work of art; from the most unpromising of scripts hellman has crafted a haunting fairy tale with a superbly realised mythical ambience. the script is bad, mcgill switches accents a couple of times, and the make up is poor. but hellman utilises the mechanics of cinema (images, sounds, staging, cutting) to overcome budgetary and casting limitations, resulting in a film that is trashy but eloquent, haunting and astonishingly beautiful.