Brazil (1985)

Named after the Ary Barroso song “Brazil” from the 30s, director Terry Gilliam tells a bizarre and darkly comical science-fiction story set in a dystopian future (though now it’s the past as it takes place “somewhere in the 20th century”). The song “Brazil” is played throughout the film as a recurring theme song, but it never really fits in with what appears on screen; the upbeat tempo and fun feeling of the song contrast greatly with the cluttered, chaotic, and often faulty world that is the city in Brazil. The film begins by showing a mistake in the system caused by an insect being killed by a bureaucrat. This little incident changes one letter of a man’s name shown on a strange computer that leads that man to be arrested in his home. This event sets off a chain reaction that affects the entire plot. Sam Lowry (Jonathon Pryce) is a lowly employee for the government in a lesser department of information. He has no ambition and likes it that way as he spends most of his time unnoticed and daydreaming while doing his boss’s (Ian Holm) work for him. While attempting to fix the computer problem involving the man who was wrongfully taken and tortured and killed, he sees the woman of his dreams (Kim Greist) living in the same apartment complex as the man. He is determined to find her and even takes a promotion in order to have access to do so. As a result he finds himself involved with terrorists (one being played by Robert De Niro) and even becomes a target of the government.

The world of Brazil is strange and fascinating to look at. The details in every scene are at times overwhelming; you could watch this film again and again and find something different in almost every shot. The world itself is run by a militaristic government that is also flooded with paperwork. It’s like a bureaucratic nightmare. After a woman’s husband is arrested and forcefully removed from his house at gunpoint, she must then fill out the appropriate forms and accept her receipt. This forced order makes life miserable and everything that people do is like a visit to the DMV. There are overly-complicated appliances everywhere; the phone requires a specific plug to be connected to a button based on whose calling, the elevators have a confusing way of entering information and break down, and the computers and televisions have screens so small that they require a gigantic lens in order to see them. This is particularly amusing today as small screens are quite popular with iPods, hand held videogames, and cell phones.

There is also an obsession with tubes in this film as they seemingly connect everything together and in certain scenes, such as when Sam’s apartment is taken apart, really convey an image of technology gone awry in a tangled mess. The people working in cell-like offices are given numbers on their doors instead of names and everything in the building looks the same. The city and the people in it seem to be modeled in part after the 30s or 40s style, but with an odd mixture of technology thrown in, highly reminiscent of Fritz Lang's Metropolis or even Gotham City from Tim Burton's Batman and the animated film, Mask of the Phantasm. As mentioned before, the technology is defective and this combination of retro and futuristic seems very surreal.

The “future” of Brazil is horrifying, but the way it is portrayed is often very humorous. Aside from the incredibly high amount of jokes found in the background of various scenes be they audio or visual, there are simple absurdities that are shown in various aspects of the society in terms of their rules and general ways of doing things. For instance, when a person is to be arrested and taken away, aside from officers smashing down the doors and leaping in through every available window, they also need to enter in from the floor above by cutting a circle large enough for them to attach a pole for men to slide down from. It’s completely unnecessary and odd, but I found myself chuckling the first time I saw it. Though there are never any laugh-out-loud moments, there is never a scene without a strange little oddity that makes it amusing, like when Sam meets his friend Jack (played by Monty Python’s Michael Palin) who tortures people for the government. In the office outside the torture room, the secretary wears headphones and works as a stenographer writing down literally everything that is being said, including the various sounds of anguish. This shouldn’t be funny, but for some reason it comes off quite humorously. Terry Gillaim's direction keeps the film not only consistent, but completely engaging visually. He films each scene so carefilly and so specifically that you'll find yourself unable to look away despite not fully understanding.

The only means of escape in this world seem to be through consumerism, vanity, and dreams. For the general public it is consumerism which makes the film being set around Christmas more fitting. A girl sitting on Santa’s lap asks him for a credit card and (my favorite example) before one gets tortured the guards tell him not to hold out too long or his credit rating will be ruined. Sam’s mother (Katherine Helmond) and her friend are both obsessed with plastic surgery, while one prefers the doctor using a knife while the other prefers the acid treatment (with disastrous results). For Sam, his escape is his dreams. In his dreams he is a winged knight flying in the sky and searching for his dream woman. These sexual fantasies make him not only the hero, but free from the world that he exists in. They are visually interesting scenes as well featuring strange beings that begin to bleed into the real world as the story progresses. Brazil is a film that demands repeated viewings not only to fully grasp what appears on screen, but to really take everything in. There are few films quite like it.