To some a sci-fi classic while to others a total mess, Brazil is Terry Gilliam�s foray into the Orwellian setting of a future sent mad by bureaucracy. It all starts when a civil servant swats a fly in his office, which falls into his typewriter and so the name on an invoice looks like Buttle instead of Tuttle. The blame for this mistake eventually comes to rest in the department of Hyde, an unambitious desk clerk who virtually runs his department but is perfectly happy where he is. As he tries to rectify this simple error, he gets further and further bogged down in red tape and even becomes implicated as a member of a terrorist cell, which brings him into contact with the woman who is quite literally of his dreams.
Well I�m going to sit on the fence with this one. It is both visionary but muddled. The sets and attention to details are great, really evoking a world where the application of common sense requires the appropriate paperwork in triplicate. However the overall story is untidy with too many ideas flying around at once and the whole terrorist plot isn�t so well handled. The dream sequences are little too mad for my liking, but the real world is brilliantly just as crazy, if not more so. The whole debacle with the air-conditioning company and DeNiro�s rogue engineer, as well as the office Hyde works in after his promotion, are satirically unhinged to great effect. Also top marks for an ending that looks like spiraling out of even Gilliam�s control but then coming back to earth with a resounding crash. |
