Brazil

Composite Score: 87.2

Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Jim Broadbent, and Barbara Hicks

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, and Charles McKeown

Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Dystopian

MPAA Rating: R

Box Office: $9.95 million worldwide

My take on Watching This Film:

                Brazil is Terry Gilliam’s absurdist dystopian sci-fi dark comedy film about a low-level bureaucrat who falls in love with a woman in his dreams who happens to also become an enemy of the state, prompting him to have to choose whether or not to intervene in her case. The film stars Jonathan Pryce in the lead as Sam Lowry joined by Kim Greist as Sam’s dream girl Jill Layton, Robert De Niro as rogue repairman Harry Tuttle, Katherine Helmond as Sam’s mother Ida Lowry, Ian Holm as his boss Mr. Kurtzmann, Bob Hoskins as the inept government repairman Spoor, and Michael Palin as Sam’s friend, coworker, and superior Jack Lint. It’s a fairly impossible film to adequately describe without sharing the entirety of its absurd plot and characters but suffice it to say that I personally found the film to be brilliant. The production design alone is enough to put it in the territory of 80s cult classics, of which very few deserve to be skipped. The addition of Gilliam’s personal brand of dark comedy, satire, societal critique, and almost prescience in some moments serve to make the film one that deserves to live above cult status among the all-timers. It is a film that recognizes the direction that late-stage capitalism is heading, alongside the potential for government oversight that becomes virtually commonplace because of the overworked nature of the lower classes and the complacency and complicity of the upper classes. The story itself is fairly easy to follow, but it’s the film’s examination of the clashes between the human desires for love, self-advancement, and ease and the ways which each of us prioritize these differently and allow them to shape our moral compasses to varying degrees. It’s a rich film that’s full of symbolism and Easter eggs that begs to be watched many times and that is sure to hold up under as many future rewatches as you want to give it. Brazil’s prescience and style have made it one of the all-time greats that will keep you coming back to it over and over. It might not be the most approachable film for everyone, but those who enjoy 80s dystopian aesthetics and the darker sides of the humor of Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Time Bandits) are sure to enjoy this one as well. Currently, this film can be rented on most streaming platforms if you find yourself in one or more of those categories and would like to watch it for yourself.