The Brazil [Single Disc Version] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam's enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy of Gilliam films on imagination versus reality, that began with Bandits and ended in 1989 with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. To create this wild, visually audacious satire, Gilliam combines dystopian elements from Orwell, Huxley and Kafka (plus a central character who mirrors Walter Mitty) with his own trademark, Monty Python-esque, jet black British humor and his gift for extraordinary visual invention. The results are thoroughly unprecedented in the cinema.

Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowry, a civil servant who chooses to blind himself to the decaying, drone-like world around him. It's a world marred by oppressive automatization and towering bureaucracy, and populated by tyrannical guards who strongarm lawbreakers. And Lowry is stuck in the middle of this nightmare. Whenever real life becomes too oppressive, Sam fantasizes (to the tune of Ary Baroso's 1930s hit "Brazil") about sailing through the clouds as a winged superhero, and rescuing beautiful Jill Layton (Kim Greist) from a giant, Samurai warrior. The omnipresent computer that controls everything in the "real" world malfunctions, causing an innocent citizen to be arrested and tortured to death. When Sam routinely investigates the error, he meets - and pursues Jill , literally the girl of his dreams. But in real life, she's a tough-as-nails truck driver who initially wants nothing to do with him. It turns out that she is suspected of underground activities, in connection with a terrorist network wanted for bombing public places. The price Sam pays for his association with her is a close encounter with the man in charge of torturing troublesome citizens (Michael Palin). He is rescued - at the last minute - by maintenance man Harry Tuttle (Robert de Niro) who moonlights as a terrorist, but that only represents the beginning of his plight, for now the "system" is onto him.

Gilliam ran into enormous problems with Brazil. Universal - which produced the picture - originally slated it for release in 1984, but the studio - intimidated by the film's whopping length of 142 minutes - demanded that Gilliam trim the film to bring it in under two hours and alter the pessimistic ending. Gilliam refused; Universal shelved the picture for a year. In response, the director took out a full page ad in Variety asking studio president Sid Sheinberg when the film would be released. Sensing tremendous pressure, Universal bowed to Gilliam's insistence on fewer cuts but still demanded a happy ending. Gilliam trimmed only eleven minutes and altered the conclusion just slightly (instead of cutting to black, it fades into puffy white clouds on a blue sky, with a reprise of the title tune). It was thus released in early 1985 at 131 minutes, and of course became a seminal work; many critics regarded it at the time as the best film of the eighties. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • All new, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Terry Gilliam, with a remastered Dolby stereo surround soundtrack
  • Audio commentary by Gilliam
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Plus: An essay by Jack Mathews

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Art Direction - 1985 (Maggie Gray, Norman Garwood)
•     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1985 (Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam)

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Director - 1985 (Terry Gilliam)
•     Won Best Picture - 1985
•     Won Best Screenplay - 1985 (Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Jonathan Pryce - Sam Lowry
       Michael Palin - Jack Lint
       Kim Greist - Jill Layton
       Robert De Niro - Harry Tuttle
       Katherine Helmond - Ida Lowrey
       Ian Holm - Kurtzman
       Ian Richardson - Warren
       Peter Vaughan - Helpmann
       Bob Hoskins - Spoor
       Derrick O'Connor - Dowser
       Charles McKeown - Lime
       Barbara Hicks - Mrs. Terrian
       Kathryn Pogson - Shirley
       Jim Broadbent - Dr. Jaffe
       Jack Purvis - Dr. Chapman
       Bryan Pringle - Spiro
       Sheila Reid - Mrs. Buttle
       Brian Miller - Mr. Buttle
       John Pierce Jones - Basement Guard
       Prudence Oliver - Girl Buttle
       Ann Way - Old Lady with Dog
       Anthony G. Brown - Porter, Information Retrieval
       Gorden Kaye - M.O.I. Lobby Porter
       Derek Deadman - Bill, Department of Works
       Diana Martin - Telegram Girl
       Oscar Quitak - Interview Official
       Holly Gilliam - Holly
       Elizabeth Spender - Alison/Barbara Lint
       Terry Forrestal - Burning Trooper
       Sadie Corre - Midget Woman
       Howard Lew Lewis - 2nd Black Maria Guard
       Myrtle Devenish - Typist in Jack's Office
       John Flanagan - TV Interviewer/Salesman
       Simon Nash - Boy Buttle
       Roger Ashton - Griffiths - Priest
       Tony Portacio - Neighbor in Clerk's Pool
       Nigel Planer - Charlie, Department of Works
       Ray Cooper - Technician
       Patrick Connor - Cell Guard
       Don Henderson - 1st Black Maria Guard
       Simon Jones - Arrest Official
       Winston Dennis - Samurai Warrior

• Director:

  Terry Gilliam

• Producer:

  Arnon Milchan, Robert North

• Screenwriter:

  Frank Gill, Jr., Terry Gilliam, Laura Kerr, Charles McKeown, Tom Stoppard

• Cinematographer:

  Roger Pratt

• Composer (Music Score):

  Michael Kamen, Walter Scharf

• Editor:

  Julian Doyle

• Production Designer:

  Norman Garwood

• Art Director:

  John Beard, Keith Pain

• Co-producer:

  Patrick Cassavetti

• Set Designer:

  Maggie Gray

• Costume Designer:

  James Acheson

• Makeup:

  Aaron Sherman, Maggie Weston

• Special Effects:

  Richard Conway, George Gibbs

• Stunts:

  Tip Tipping, Bill Weston

• Production Manager:

  Graham Ford

• Casting:

  Irene Lamb

REVIEW:

• Director Terry Gilliam's comic fantasy-nightmare portrays a future in which Big Brother is definitely watching. The film suggests no particular time, boasting a retro style that gives it an ominous timelessness. Like Ridley Scott's Blade Runner or Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Brazil succeeds precisely because it presents a grimy future with real similarities to the present, where technology and efficiency lead to more, not less, government interference and bureaucracy. Brazil also adds an element of comedy to the mix; some of the zaniest scenes involve Robert DeNiro, playing against type as the hilarious terrorist Harry Tuttle. Visually, the film is a near-psychedelic wonder, with such indelible images as the bleak metropolis that launches from the ground, disrupting the idyllic dreams of unlikely hero Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce). To say Gilliam pulled out all the stops is an understatement -- it seems that every image that popped into his head has found its way into the film. Brazil was criticized by some for going too far, and this lack of restraint does extend to the sometimes hard-to-follow plot. But a little incoherence is a relatively small price to pay for what is otherwise a startlingly imaginative work. ~ Matthew Doberman, Rovi