1. I didn't understand the film at all. What's it all about? (Brazil - Movie, 1985)
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This article is from the Brazil - Movie, 1985 FAQ, by David S. Cowen davec@earth.execpc.com with numerous contributions by others.
1. I didn't understand the film at all. What's it all about? (Brazil - Movie, 1985)
BRAZIL is a film rich in depth -- the plot does not focus on just
one subject, but instead contains many different themes which weave
together. The film follows the character of Sam Lowry, a clerk in the
records department of a huge government bureaucracy, the Ministry of
Information. Sam's perception of the world alternates between being
trapped as a mere "cog in the machine" in a grim world of paperwork, and
escaping from his grim existence by becoming a hero in his own elaborate
dreams. His life and these dreams begin to merge together...his dreams
become more realized as his life tears apart. Eventually, the government
imprisons him, finding him guilty of none other than "wasting the
Ministry's time and paper" after Sam embarks on a messy pursuit of the
girl he sees in both his dreams and in real life -- who was unrightly
wanted by the Ministry as a suspected terrorist.
Still don't get it? You probably won't, not until you've seen
the film multiple times. The structure of BRAZIL often uses peripheral
devices: interviews heard in the background, lines of conversation
running over action and posters seen on walls, to give the viewer cues
as to what's going on in the film. It seems nearly impossible that
a single viewing of BRAZIL could possibly supply the viewer with all
of the information needed to fully digest what's happening in the film.
BRAZIL is a film which rolls up many of the problems of the
century into one big plot: industrialization, terrorism, government
control and bureaucracy (from both capitalist and socialized countries),
technology gone wrong, inept repair people, plastic surgery, love, and
even modern filmmaking. Especially love.
Gilliam has claimed that the film is about the fear of love: the
consequences of the Sam Lowry character pursuing his dream girl are
steep. However, if the film can be said to focus on a single topic,
it would have to be described as the dehumanizing effect of technology
and bureaucracy on today's society -- although the film is much more
than that. In the world of BRAZIL, set "8:49 p.m., somewhere in the
20th century", fantasy is the only escape, and the happy ending is that
of a man going insane. The film certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea,
shifting abruptly from comedy to despair, something Gilliam has described
in interviews as cinematic rape. Gilliam approaches the style of the
film with his trademark wit and stunning visuals, both honed during his
years as the animator for _Monty Python's Flying Circus_ and during the
production of his film _Time Bandits_.
Words from Gilliam himself, part of an interview for The South Bank Show,
filmed 6/29/91:
"BRAZIL was a film that sat around for some years, I mean like 10
years I'd been sort of thinking about this thing. I mean on a very simple
level it's just its just very cathartic for me. It's all about my own
frustrations and my seeming inability to achieve what I wanted to achieve
and my inability to affect a system that is clearly wrong. The fears of
BRAZIL are not so much that the world is spinning out of control because
of the system, because the system is us. What BRAZIL is really about is
that the system isn't great leaders, great machinating people controlling
it all. It's each person performing their job as one little cog in this
thing and Sam chooses to stay a little cog and ultimately he pays the price
for that.
"Now on the other hand I also felt that there's the ideal that if we
all do our bit the world will become better. Then there's the pessimistic
side that says enough of this 'do our bit, ain't gonna make a blind bit of
difference as we're all gunna, lemming like, go over the abyss'. And so
then there was 'how do you escape from that world?' and Sam escapes by
going insane. I actually started this film with that idea of 'can one make
a film where the happy ending is a man going insane?'"
Keep in mind, however, that Gilliam has been quoted as saying:
"Because I dislike being quoted I lie almost constantly when talking
about my work."
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