6. How does BRAZIL fit in with Gilliam's other movies? (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.
6. How does BRAZIL fit in with Gilliam's other movies? (Brazil - Movie, 1985)
In the promotion of the film THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN,
Terry Gilliam openly referred to that film as the third in his
trilogy of films, which began with TIME BANDITS and continued with
BRAZIL. Later, Gilliam has been quoted in saying that calling
the three a trilogy was just him being "pretentious".
Do the three form a trilogy? They certainly seem to: _The Battle
of Brazil_ explains that Gilliam's trilogy is about the ages of man, and
the subordination of magic to realism. TIME BANDITS was part one, about
the fantasist as a child. BRAZIL was part two, the fantasist as a
young man, and BARON MUNCHAUSEN closes the series with its story about
an old man who, through the innocence and open mindedness of a small girl,
regains his belief in magic. Both TIME BANDITS and BRAZIL have bleak
endings, but BARON MUNCHAUSEN shows the final triumph of this sort of
magic through fantasy, as Munchausen circumvents the reality of his death
in his own tall tales, achieving immortality through his storytelling.
Considering that Gilliam was on record calling BARON MUNCHAUSEN
the third in the trilogy before production on MUNCHAUSEN began, it is
definite that even if Gilliam was not thinking of making a trilogy as
he wrote and filmed TIME BANDITS and BRAZIL, he certainly considered
them that at the end, and made BARON MUNCHAUSEN with that in mind.
Gilliam often compares himself with the protagonists in his films,
and the main characters in TIME BANDITS, BRAZIL and MUNCHAUSEN can all
be considered representations of Gilliam himself during various stages
of his life. Both BRAZIL and MUNCHAUSEN's plots and themes echo
the events surrounding the making of those films, so at the very least
the films can be viewed as a loose cinematic interpretation of however
Terry Gilliam was feeling at the stage in his life when he wrote those
films. Neither of the later films, THE FISHER KING or 12 MONKEYS were
written by Terry Gilliam, and while they continue with his common theme
of merging fantasy with reality (and the difficulty in determining
which of the two is more truthful), they cannot be considered the
autobiographical statements that his previous three films appear to be.
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