Terry Gilliam's Brazil

I think this movie is amazing. Definitely my all-time favorite film.

Quick summary: In a dystopian version of 20th century Britain, a low-level government worker tries to save a woman who he is in love with only in his dreams. All of this stems from a typewriting error that mistakenly causes a man to be arrested and disappeared for terrorism. (Terrible summary I know.)

It's packed with tons of thought provoking social commentary on bureaucracy, fascism, and perpetual warfare as well as how all those elements affect an individuals spiritual well-being. Its a long movie and has a plot that isn't easily understood at first viewing which is why I think a lot of people don't like it that much. But I think people with patience and good attention spans would like it a lot. It is sort of like 1984 with a sense of humor.

Anyone else like this film?

Geoffrey Fowler said:

Gilliam said Brazil was inspired by 1984 but, in many ways, it's much better and more frightening than Orwell's dystopia. For one thing, it isn't mucked up with religion and truth-will-prevail themes, and, for another, it uses humor, the kind of humor that makes your laughs stick in your throat because it is too close to the truth: The idea of people getting billed by their torturer for his efforts sounds like something the Donald Trump might dream up. The political theme of Brazil, youthful terrorists battling a repressive gerontocracy, is also topical, but I'd better not get into that.

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I haven't read 1984 in a long time, but I didn't come away with any kind of truth-will-prevail or religious themes of any kind. I felt pretty hopeless after I read it. Watching Brazil, I still felt hopeless but I figured we could at least live in our fantasies and dreams.