Day
87 Brazil
[1985]
Screenplay Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown
Director Terry Gilliam
Cinematography Roger Pratt
Music Michael Kamen
Leads Jonathan
Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Kim Greist
Production Embassy International Pictures, Brazil
Productions
IMDb 8/10
Rotten Tomatoes 98%
Wow.
Imagine the Monty Python gang got together and tried to make a normal film.
Well, a couple of them did and this is the end result. It’s a slapstick
dystopia where bureaucracy rules, and that is what Gilliam hammers home the
most. Honestly the amount of bureaucracy will have you pulling your hair out.
Weirdly it reminded me of the first aliens encountered in Hitchhiker’s Guide,
but that’s just a side note. The set design is low-budget Blade Runner,
but it works to create an imaginable future where a totalitarian government
rule over a heavily consumer-driven world. It’s truly bizarre and I think I
prefer Monty Python (I know that’s an easy thing to say). It is darkly humorous
with very few likable characters. Robert De Niro is about the only good
character, and yet he disappears as quickly as he arrives, himself hiding from
the stranglehold that bureaucracy has on every member of society. Michael Palin
was also brilliant in hammering home the normalization of violence as a
government official totally adhering to every rule. I’m not sure I liked this
film though. It had its moments definitely, but there was too much fantasy
amongst the satire.
Acting 2.5 / 4
Writing 3 / 4
Cinematography 3 / 4
Music 2 / 4
HWF rating 2.5 / 4