Review of Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971) by Leia C — 22 Aug 2007

One of the weirdest films I've ever seen, and I've watched a LOT of weird shit. In some kind of alternate universe populated entirely by dwarves, the inmates of some sort of institution run amok, speaking German punctuated with demonic high-pitched laughter.

They tear down a palm tree, look at porno mags, examine insects on pins that one dwarf made wedding costumes for while a couple of other dwarves kill a pig, hotwire a car which is left running in a circle for the rest of the movie, light potted plants on fire with gasoline, and crucify a monkey.

Two dwarves are apparently blind; they wear blacked-out industrial goggles and feel their way around with big sticks, which they often just end up whacking things with. In the meantime one of the "instructors" has locked himself up in his office, waiting in vain for the police, with one of the insurgents tied to a chair where he just sits laughing.

It ends with the "head" dwarf watching a camel shitting and laughing so maniacally at this that he starts coughing. And if this movie is any indication, chickens are really stupid animals. It's a pretty polarizing sort of film; Crispin Glover loves it and I thought it had moments of brilliance, but I can see how people might hate it.