Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
If Franz Kafka had been an animator and film director–oh, and a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus–this is the sort of outrageously dystopian satire one could easily imagine him making. However, Brazil was made by Terry Gilliam, who is all of the above except, of course, Franz Kafka. Be that as it may, Gilliam sure captures the paranoid-subversive spirit of Kafka’s The Trial (along with his own Python animation) in this bureaucratic nightmare-comedy about a meek governmental clerk named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) whose life is destroyed by a simple bug. Not a software bug, a real bug (no doubt related to Kafka’s famous Metamorphosis insect) that gets smooshed in a printer and causes a typographical error unjustly identifying an innocent citizen, one Mr. Buttle, as suspected terrorist Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro). When Sam becomes enmeshed in unravelling this bureaucratic glitch, he himself winds up labelled as a miscreant.
The movie presents such an unrelentingly imaginative and savage vision of 20th-century bureaucracy that it almost became a victim of small-minded studio management itself–until Gilliam surreptitiously screened his cut for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, who named it the best movie of 1985 and virtually embarrassed Universal into releasing it. –Jim Emerson If Franz Kafka had been an animator and film director–oh, and a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus–Brazil is the sort of outrageously dystopian satire one could easily imagine him making. In fact it was made by Terry Gilliam, who is all of the above except, of course, Franz Kafka. Be that as it may, Gilliam captures the paranoid-subversive spirit of Kafka’s The Trial (along with his own Python animation) in this bureaucratic nightmare-comedy about a meek government clerk named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) whose life is destroyed by a simple bug. It’s not a software bug but a real bug (no doubt related to Kafka’s famous Metamorphosis insect) that gets squashed in a printer and causes a typographical error unjustly identifying an innocent citizen, one Mr Buttle, as suspected terrorist Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro). When Sam becomes enmeshed in unravelling this bureaucratic tangle, he himself winds up labelled as a miscreant. The movie presents such an unrelentingly imaginative and savage vision of 20th-century bureaucracy that it almost became a victim of small-minded studio management itself–until Gilliam surreptitiously screened his cut for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, who named it the best movie of 1985 and virtually embarrassed Universal into releasing it. –Jim Emerson
On the DVD: Brazil comes to DVD in a welcome anamorphic print of the full director’s cut–here running some 136 minutes. Disappointingly the only extra feature is the 30-minute making-of documentary “What Is Brazil?”, which consists of on-set and behind-the-scenes interviews. There’s nothing about the film’s controversial release history (covered so comprehensively on the North American Criterion Collection release), nor is Gilliam’s illuminating, irreverent directorial commentary anywhere to be found. The only other extra here is the ubiquitous theatrical trailer. A welcome release of a real classic, then, but something of a missed opportunity. –Mark Walker
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Review by the thief of brisco for Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
Where on earth do you start when you try describing Brazil? Terry Gilliam does a spectacular job portraying a dark fantasy world where society is taken over by a sinister bureaucracy which creates the nightmare scenario where individuals don’t know who to trust or where to turn for help. What makes Brazil particularly uncomfortable and even prophetic, is that we can identify with the leading character (played by Johnathon Price) and his lonely plight into a dystopian hell. For anyone who has been enraged by being fobbed off by something like an electronic answering service in a bank, multiply Price’s anguish by ten. He lives in an inhuman world which has nothing left other than red tape and faceless autocrats. Gilliam proves that you don’t need any of the tactics employed by the horror genre to a create a terrifying and riveting scenario.
Review by Mr. C. Moore for Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(4 / 5)
Rating:
It’s hard to be objective about a film i know and love as much as Brazil, but here goes. Firstly the bad news, no director’s commentary, Gilliam always provides illuminating and witty commentaries so it’s a glaring omission. Secondly, ‘What is Brazil?’ is an only mildly interesting extra, not adding much to our understanding of the film. Hence, a missed opportunity.Now the good news. If you like surrealist cinema, pitch black humour and bizarre imagery (think Lynch here), then this could well turn out to be one of your favourite films too. A sort of Gilliam vision of nineteen eighty four, the film depicts a futuristic society in which bureaucracy subjugates free will and peoples’ lives become computer printouts. Love, as in 1984 is the enemy of the state, and Sam is the civil servant who commits the heinous crime of falling in love with a suspected terrorist. I won’t spoil the ending, but it is both uplifting and devastating.If you prefer straightforward story telling and narrative closure then you might prefer to avoid this film. Subjectively I would say this is one of only a few films that has left an enduring impression upon me.
Review by Andy Millward for Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
This film is bizarre, fantastic, flawed, and utterly delicious – all the ingredients you’d expect from the febrile imagination of Terry Gilliam. It’s a cartoon come to life and gone wild; packed with the sort of detail and flights of fancy you could normally only expect to find in a novel. Watching it again after some years was a treat, partly to catch up with some of the delightful nuances Gilliam has hidden within his richly decorated but highly indigestible chocolate box world. This parallel universe in which society has been shaken into a nightmarish but strangely incompetent bureaucratic police state closely reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984. How Orwell might have envisioned his alternative reality, had he been less po-faced and been in possession of a darkly chaotic sense of humour!Beautifully judged performances abound: Jonathan Pryce’s Sam Lowry (a cog in the wheel but dreams himself a winged hero) is exactly the right mix of naive everyman and common-sense superhero; Michael Palin’s civilised torturer is joyful to watch; Bob Hoskins as the frustrated official heating engineer perfect, while Robert de Niro plays his rogue counterpart; and many more – a shame to pick out anyone. And Brazil? It’s that infectiously catchy latin tune running through the film. This is far from perfect, but then removing the flaws would leave a bland and anodyne movie. Accept it, warts and all. In Gilliam’s own cut, this is an experience not to be missed.
Review by S S Kalwan for Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I can’t believe that it’s taken them this long to release this classic. I saw this on TV years ago and wasn’t expecting much, boy was I wrong. Even now, the story is original if surreal. The humour dark and the ending defininately not the fairy tale ending that you expect from the Hollywood machine. There are so many “moments” that you could single out as defining this film, but none that would fully encapsulate the breadth of it. Watch this if you want a change from the “usual” film. If you liked 12 Monkeys, you’ll love this.
Review by Ms. Josephine M. Howard for Brazil – Criterion Collection [DVD] [1985] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I first saw this at an SF convention in Edinburgh, in the small hours, where I was a Guest of Honour (as Josephine Saxton) specially put on for me by a fan who wore an excellent slouch trilby at all times. Seeing it again recently I find that it has improved, and I would not have thought that possible. A lot of its material is 1984 but with humour and excitement but the first rate English Surrealism tells several ‘truths’ simultaneously. There is not one boring moment,much fear and a lot of prophesy, a lot of which has now happened. Work of genius, no less.