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    		•

    FILMS

    Brazil (1985)
  • Starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin

  • Directed by Terry Gilliam

    • Terry Gilliam has these twisted little fantasy dreams that, thankfully, he's allowed to make into feature-length films. Let's all gather around and pray that Gilliam never gets put in charge of helping design The Future. I love to watch his movies, but I'd had to live in them.

    In Brazil, he creates a world overflowing with duct-filled living spaces, high-tech gadgetry that rarely works, beauty-obsessed grannies, and corporate bureaucracy so fractured it no longer has any accountability for it's actions. "Of course, that's not my department," is a common excuse when something goes wrong. There is nothing quite like the look of a Gilliam film—claustrophobic, neurotic, ironic. Strange and horrible in the best of all possible ways.

    Jonathan Pryce plays Sam Lowry, a guy who has few prospects and is constantly controlled by his mother. His life is normal (well, normal for the world of Brazil) and boring. But when he sleeps, he dreams himself a winged knight of sorts, fighting to rescue a fair lady. Robert De Niro puts in a great performance as a rogue heating repairman, and Ian Holm gives a great turn as Pryce's ineffectual boss.

    The plot: A squashed fly landing in a computer, causes a malfunction and creates a printing error on an arrest order. Instead of going after a man named Tuttle, the police go after a completely innocent man, Buttle. From there, the film goes rapidly downhill into absurdity (which is a good thing, by the way). I guess it just goes to show you that it's the little things in life that will eventually get you.

    There are a few versions of this film in circulation. Apparently Gilliam argued with the production company, who wanted a sanitized, happy, Hollywood ending that would be more palatable to the American audiences. Crap like that pisses me off. So, without giving away the ending, but still making sure you see the right one—go rent the DVD. As far as I can tell, the DVD version hasn't been castrated by Hollywood idiots.