M. Shoe
The film, Brazil, is directed by Terry Gilliam and filmed in 1985. The plot roughly follows the adventures of a man, named Sam Lowry, as he attempts to escape into his peaceful and simple life. Below the surface, however, Terry Gilliam inserted many more messages into the basic story elements. While I myself did not enjoy the viewing experience, the messages and depth in this movie can still be acknowledged. The camerawork was also used to illustrate these ideas, with many techniques, such as mise-en-scene and how Gilliam composes these crowded scenes. These may make it quite a complex film, however, in my views, that does not make it interesting.
To discuss some of the themes, techniques and messages used in this film, they include some of the obvious ones, through Sam’s dreams and escapades, to subtler details, such as how the camera enjoys zooming out, to reveal more beyond the scope or show another perspective, which happens several times throughout the film. Some repeated themes, such as his dreams, greed, vanity are also used to illustrate a deeper meaning in the film. Many make different connections in this film, from believing that the whole movie is played inside Sam’s mind, to inferring and trying to understand the numerous jam-packed scenes in this film.
Many of these messages are prominent during certain scenes of this movie. One of these scenes is one during the middle of the film, when Sam is trying to be promoted to stalk the love of his life. A terrorist attack happens at the restaurant and causes this sudden juxtaposition. Sam jumps in to help the victims, but his mother carries on nonchalantly, dismissing it as a mere disturbance. This is further shown when the butler also does the same. Strange scenes in this are a common occurrence in this movie and many of them do have a deeper meaning. Now, like all types of media, this movie is incredibly subjective, especially with how many details can be chucked in a scene at a time during this film, however, my personal views on this are that, while the government promises to help people (as shown by their statement near the beginning of the movie, where they call a decade of terrorist bombings beginners luck) but ultimately fails.
Rather than uniting communities, everyone is out to get the best for themselves, even the idealistically-built government. More examples in this show when Sam’s own mother ignores him for attention. Everyone is consumed by their greed and only wishes for themselves. This could be interlinked with themes of power and corruption. Those who have luxurious lives tended to live for themselves and their own vanity, prioritizing appearance. This could also be tied to how the government wishes to look good, disregarding these attacks. Tuttle, a rebel, however, showed his generosity as he says “We’re all in this together…” and assists Sam in his issues.
One other such occurrence of these important scenes include the scenes in his chaotic nightmare of a dream. This bird-metal-man thing with a blade is out to get the robot lord of the baby-faced undead. When spoken, this idea certainly seems strange and perplexing, and that’s one of the gripes I have with this film. For a casual viewer, this experience may not be desired. Many praise the film and its depth, usually requiring analysis or rewatches of the film. For this particular scene in the journey in his dreams, this one is where he is about to rescue his caged maiden. He gets cut down but stands back up. The camera jumps around more often during these scenes, encapturing the action that is displayed and depicts this beast as a gargantuan. Sam loses his wings and sustains damage, but he is set on his rescue. This much illustrates his journey in the real world, as he falls and loses everything to obtain the love of his life.
The last scene I am discussing is the one at the rear end of the movie, where Sam is humming away, in his own fantasy. He escapes, but with nothing left, as the camera zooms out to move to the credits as he sits in the torture chair. You could say this shows how, even if he lost everything, when he rebelled, he made his own peace within himself and was no longer a slave in his job. He freed himself even in a trapped position, by rebelling against the government. The camera does the usual, it zooms out and the credits begin. He is officially out, finished and drifting out and he is but a minuscule soldier in such a large war, if you’d wish to infer from the camera shots. You could say this conveys a theme of hope, showing that there is always a way out, even if it’s not for the best.
Overall, I found this movie to be quite confusing. The story especially takes a turn during the end of the movie, where it is still debated where he began dreaming. Some even say that it was just his own mind for the whole movie. Some of the characters seem interesting but others, are as perplexing as the plot. Disagreements on the details in this film are common, mostly up to the viewer’s interpretation. (see this and this, where one claims that Brazil shows Gilliam’s warnings for a dystopian society while the other states that Gilliam himself reportedly stated that this film was not meant to portray the future). This film is full of references, themes, messages, ideas and depth, however, the experience for me, as one who prefers to watch for the sake of enjoyment, I was left puzzled by the ending. Unlike those in other media who have done a similar cliffhanger, I had no suspense left, just plain confusion. This obviously, is just my opinion of a quite ambiguous film with many subjective viewpoints on the details.
Now, however, is my conclusion, there are still many insights that could be made, many different perspectives to be displayed, from the use of mirrors or the cage and their meaning, or the specific details of when, perhaps, does Sam’s doze begins, the dystopian landscape and abodes but, I digress. Terry tried to show many things in his work, and, while I disagree on his story writing, the world he created, the people in it, were quite alive. Even the cryptic messages and the personal inferences, many were very well-thought out. In Brazil, hearts were entertained, where their tomorrow felt truly like another day, and, like the movie, this (slight review) analysis ends with still a million things left to say…
Bibliography
Articles
Glass, F. (2019). Brazil (1985) by Terry Gilliam — Review by Fred Glass — Scraps from the loft. [online] Scraps from the loft. Available at: https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2019/03/12/brazil-terry-gilliam-review-fred-glass/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2019].
Hamel, K. (n.d.). Images — Terry Gilliam and Brazil. [online] Imagesjournal.com. Available at: http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue06/features/brazil.htm [Accessed 13 Jun. 2019].
Kinnear, S. (2014). Re-Viewed: Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985). [online] Digital Spy. Available at: https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/re-viewed/a554073/re-viewed-terry-gilliams-prescient-sci-fi-brazil/ [Accessed 12 Jun. 2019].
Mathews, J. (1999). Brazil. [online] The Criterion Collection. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/59-brazil [Accessed 11 Jun. 2019].
Pelan, T. (n.d.). Duct Soup: The Daffy, Dystopian Design Nightmare of Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil’ • Cinephilia & Beyond. [online] Cinephilia & Beyond. Available at: https://cinephiliabeyond.org/duct-soup-the-daffy-dystopian-design-nightmare-of-terry-gilliams-brazil/ [Accessed 20 Jun. 2019].
Pirnia, G. (2015). 13 Fascinating Facts About <em>Brazil</em>. [online] Mentalfloss.com. Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/72844/13-fascinating-facts-about-brazil [Accessed 18 Jun. 2019].
Script
Dailyscript.com. (n.d.). Brazil script by Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown. [online] Available at: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/brazil.html [Accessed 20 Jun. 2019].
