Film Review: Brazil (1985)

One of the most frequently asked questions in our bleak times is which famous dystopia is closest to the actual description of today’s world. Most people, especially those with limited knowledge or understanding of dystopias, would probably point towards Orwell’s 1984. The more adequate answer, however, can be provided by darkly humorous variation on Orwell’s themes - Brazil, 1985 film directed by Terry Gilliam, which is often considered to be among the best films in Gilliam’s career and one of the best films of 1980s.

The film is set “somewhere in 20th Century”, in an unnamed and bleak industrial megalopolis controlled by omnipresent but usually not very efficient bureaucracy. The protagonist, played by Jonathan Pryce, is Sam Lowry, minor clerk in Ministry of Information who tries to escape monotony of his life by indulging in fantasies in which he is a superhero that rescues angelic damsel in distress (played by Kim Greist). The plot is set in motion by bizarre accident in which name of the arrest warrant of renegade heating engineer and suspected terrorist Archibald Tuttle (played by Robert DeNiro) gets mistyped as “Buttle”, leading to an innocent man being arrested and tortured to death. Lowry is tasked by his superiors to offer symbolic financial compensation to Buttle’s family and, while he visits their home, he accidentally glimpses their neighbour Jill Layton, who just happens to look like a woman of his dreams. Failed attempts to get into contact with her make Sam accept promotion to Information Retrieval section, which was made possible by his influential and plastic surgery-obsessed mother Ida (played by Katherine Helmond). There he gradually finds that Jill’s failed attempts to seek justice for his neighbour made her a terrorist suspect, so he now must use his position of insider in order to try rescuing her life.

Terry Gilliam was obviously inspired by Orwell’s novel, but, according to his own statements, never actually bothered to read it. Script he co-wrote with Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown, however, gives an interesting and original dystopian vision, which was, according to Gilliam, more inspired by what he was seeing in 1980s Britain than what Orwell was seeing in 1940s. Unlike the world of 1984, when the regime relies solely on brute force and active crushing of any individuality, world of Brazil takes more indirect approach, in which people are simply crushed by frustrating amounts of red tape and inability to do anything to change things for the better. Gilliam’s vision is also more complex, with protagonist having background close to privileged elite, which can indulge in very 1980s activities like Christmas shopping or plastic surgery. Gilliam’s approach, naturally, gives more room for satire and dark humour, making bleak vision of the future more tolerable for average audience. Gilliam also give very personal touch by creating strange world which is both retro and futuristic in the same time – people are wearing 1940s fashion, technology is reliant on omnipresent tubes, computers look very much like old typewriters, while architecture which combines Art Deco and Soviet-style brutalism adds a lot to oppressive atmosphere. Gilliam also allows himself to provides strong contrast to this dark vision in fantasy scenes where the protagonist can enjoy unspoiled idyllic nature. This contrast is also provided by “Aguarela do Brasil”, popular 1939 song by Ary Barrosso which, with its cheerful sounds serves as antithesis of everything you might see on the screen.

Success of this film is also built a lot on very diverse and talented cast. Gilliam has in many ways wrote the character of protagonist specifically for Pryce, Welsh actor who until that time was known mostly for theatrical work. Although Pryce was in late 30s during production and hardly had good looks of a typical film star, it worked in film’s favour. Sam Lowry is depicted as an ordinary and vulnerable protagonist with whom the audience can identify despite the absurdities of situation he finds himself in. This allowed Pryce to continue remarkable on screen career, although he failed to repeat success he had with Sam Lowry.

Gilliam’s friend and old Monty Python associate Michael Palin is also quite memorable in the role of Jack Lint, Sam Lowry’s friend whose career in Information Retrieval and lack of scruples allowed him to be everything Sam wanted to be – successful, powerful and happy. Other actors at times went overboard with comedic overacting, most notably Ian Holm as Sam’s initial and Ian Richardson as Sam’s later boss. Kim Greist, while sufficiently attractive to pass as woman of protagonist’s dreams, lacked proper chemistry with Pryce (and Gilliam reportedly wasn’t happy with her performance in the end). Robert DeNiro is good is small role of enigmatic do-gooder and his relatively short presence benefits a film a lot, preventing overacting or overwhelming the rest of the cast.

Brazil is made with clear vision, but that vision wasn’t brought on the screen in the perfect way. The actual plot is quite weak and the narration is sometimes muddled with Gilliam’s tendency to indulge in “clever” fantasy scenes or too much grotesque, often repeating certain images and line of dialogue without clear necessity. This adds a lot to film’s very long running time and might explain why Gilliam had to fight with Universal, which wanted Brazil to be shorter and more conventional, which included happy ending. Gilliam in the end won that fight and Brazil is now best known for the version which included Gilliam’s ending which is both bleak and happy in its own warped way, but also more convincing. The ending could have been a little bit tidier, with some of the details giving “surprise” plot twist too soon. Despite that, Brazil is a very good film that could be recommended to fans of Monty Python, dystopias and dark humour and it will make laugh even the audience that today chuckle when they hear phrase “We are all in it together”.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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