Brazil

Brazil (Criterion #51).
1985 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Jim Broadbent, Nigel Planer, Brian Miller
Director: Terry Gilliam
Available from Amazon as a single disc Criterion edition, a three disc Criterion box set, or as the simple, barebones Universal release.

Terry Gilliam's signature film was first conceived in the mid-1970s after he directed his first solo project, Jabberwocky. It took the success of 1981's Time Bandits for his vision to start becoming a reality. Brazil proved to be an endless headache during production and post-production for Gilliam, to the point where the director lost all feeling in his legs for a week due to stress, and found that his vocabulary had been reduced to just three choice obscenities. Once the film was completed, Gilliam started having problems with Universal, who was to release the movie in the United States (20th Century Fox handled distribution everywhere else; evidentally, they had no problems with the film's content). At first, Universal said the movie was too long, so Gilliam trimmed it by nine minutes. However, the studio's main objection with Brazil was the dark ending (which is in the eye of the beholder, honestly), and they wanted a typical Hollywood happy ending. Gilliam wouldn't listen, so Universal created the so-called "Love Conquers All" version of Brazil, which is included as a bonus on Criterion's three disc box set, and basically sat on the original film. Gilliam bickered publicly with then-Universal studio head Sid Sheinberg, even taking out an ad in Variety asking him when he would release the movie as he intended it to be released. It took Gilliam conducting private screenings without Universal's approval, and the subsequent critical success that prompted the studio to release Brazil...but they barely promoted it, and it turned out to be a flop at the box office. Sorry, Terry.

Anyway, Brazil is the story of low-level and content to be that way government employee Sam Lowry (Pryce), who often dreams of saving a beautiful maiden while flying through the air. He gets mixed up in a government critical error caused by a literal bug in the machinery, when a Mr. Archebald Buttle (Miller) is arrested and subsequently executed instead of the ministry's real target, the renegade air conditioning specialist Harry Tuttle (De Niro). When the meeting with Mrs. Buttle goes badly, Sam notices the Buttles' upstairs neighbor, Jill Layton (Greist), when she comes to check on the situation. Jill is the same woman as in his dreams. Jill is now considered a terrorist friend of Tuttle after she tried to report Buttle's wrongful arrest to the bureaucrats who would never admit they made a mistake. Initially, Jill does not open up to Sam, as she's worried the government will find her.

In the mean time, Sam meets Harry Tuttle, who fixes the air conditioning in his apartment much faster than the two government workers sent to handle the problem, and deals with his mother Ida (Helmond), who is addicted to rejuvenating plastic surgery, and who is frustrated with her son's lack of any real drive or ambition. Sam's best friend is one Jack Lint (Palin), who specializes in torturing "guests" of the government. Sam finds Jill's records, and alters them to show that she is deceased, allowing her to escape the ministry's persecution. They share a romantic evening together before Sam is arrested for misusing his position. With Tuttle's aid (Jill's fate is unclear; it depends on which version of the film you're watching!), Sam escapes into an increasingly surreal nightmare. Sam does manage to escape the city and the government along with Jill...

...ummm, no, he doesn't.

The real star of Brazil is the simultaneously futuristic and retrogressive world that Gilliam created, filled with many outrageous gadgets and everyday household items, with just as many classic references to a simpler past visable, often in the same scene (Sam has a fascination with older movies, like Casablanca). It's a truly unique vision of film well worth your time. Highly, highly, highly recommended!