Brazil (1985)

Summary: Sam Lowry is a low level bureaucrat in a totalitarian state which seems to rely heavily on various forms of military intervention. When anything goes wrong his boss calls on him to sort things out, but his mum is constantly wishing him to be promoted, something he does not want. However, after a bungled arrest of an innocent citizen, during which he glimpses a young woman who seems to feature in his dreams, he decides to accept promotion so that he can find out more about her. Meanwhile he is having trouble with his apartment; the AC has failed but he can get no help from Central. However he is helped by Tuttle who we know should have been arrested. Sam has a hard time in Information Retrieval, his desk is connected to that of the occupant in the next room, who is the man with the computer. In time Sam gets close to the object of his dreams (literally) Jill, and they get together before he is arrested yet again amidst chaotic bombings of the city. How will it all go?

Content:  There is some innocent non-revelatory nudity and some implied sex. However the film seems to consist mainly of the most extraordinary set pieces. In his dreams Sam is a winged god rescuing a nubile young woman. He works in an environment full of tiny cathode ray tubes, with enlargement screens in front of them (if you are over 60 you might remember them). Computers look like dissected mechanical contrivances. The wrong man is arrested because a dead fly has got into the teleprinter. Sam’s mother is constantly involved in plastic surgery. Arrests when they occur are usually carried out by masked men with big guns. There are explosions implying an undercurrent of rebellion.

A View: This film revered by critics and others involved in movies. In 2004 Total Film named it as the 20th greatest British movie of all time. And typically of Gilliam’s stuff there is a lot to enjoy. However, I realised half way through that I had never managed to watch it to the end. This time I managed it in two sessions. The name seems to relate solely to the use of the tune to accompany the action. If I’m honest it seems to run out of steam half way through, and I was unable to decide whether the ending was the downbeat one required by Gilliam, or the upbeat one required by the studio.

Although I did not absolutely adore Brazil, I am a Terry Gilliam fan and would suggest the following from his films reviewed on this site: Time Bandits, Twelve Monkeys and The Man Who killed Don Quixote.