If you like your films larger than life, enjoy seeing peccadilloes exaggerated to a preposterous degree, and think comedy should be as dark as possible, then you’re going to like Brazil. It’s a big film - a funny film - and it’s also extremely sad.
Terry Gilliam’s 1985 creation stars Jonathan Pryce as Sam Lowry, a low-level bureaucrat in a dismal world of the near future. Reminiscent of George Orwell’s book 1984, this society is dark, dinghy, tightly controlled and drowning in its own bureaucracy. Despite (or maybe because of) a plethora of gadgets and machines, life is bleak and pointless.
Lowry survives by doing as he’s told and spending every possible moment in his own fantasy world. However, he is unwittingly drawn into intrigue, first by a vigilant repairman, played by Robert De Niro, and again later when he becomes entwined with the woman of his dreams - who appears to be a revolutionary intent upon blowing up this tangled world of ducts and wires.
Pryce is perfect as the only understated character in this film, as are De Niro, Hoskins, and Katherine Helmond as over-stated and wacky characters.
Brazil is spectacular in its visual fantasy. Some people find its complete lack of restraint to be a problem, and there’s no question that it’s long and, at times, hard to follow. For some, the endless series of outlandish scenes and constant special effects might be simply too much.
However, Brazil succeeds in painting an entertaining and chaotic picture of a nasty world where none of us would want to live. It’s filled with inventive settings and memorable images. And amidst all the action and noise, it also succeeds in making us interested in the fate of Sam Lowry.
Could Gilliam have done this without all the excesses? Perhaps, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.
