Brazil, a review by Antares
Brazil (1985)
88/100 - When Gilliam is on his game, his films are a vibrant tapestry of controlled insanity, and
Brazil shows him at his zenith in creativity. First off, the Coen brothers should be paying Gilliam some royalty checks for lifting the art direction from this film and using it in
The Hudsucker Proxy. Scenes such as Norville Barnes in the bowels of the Hudsucker building are eerily similar to the early scene in this film, where Ian Holm is looking for Sam and the chaos of his department unfolds as the camera tracks through the department. So much is coming at you in every frame, you are hard pressed to take it all in, in just one sitting. No doubt, this is a film that reaps a reward upon subsequent viewings. Another film that came to mind as I watched was
Metropolis, especially when Harry Tuttle would escape on the zip line. But what is best about the film is the prophetic nature of the screenplay. The mania for plastic surgery, the Orwellian nature of our government, the random terrorist attacks on society and how quickly we move on and forget the horrors of the attacks. Gilliam skewers the bureaucracy of a strong centralized government run amok in its mission to control the peace and to keep everyone on the righteous path of conspicuous consumerism. Probably my favorite shot in the film, was the ersatz Salvation Army band that carries a banner proclaiming
Consumers for Christ. I was in stitches when that banner came into view.
I'll be definitely buying this now on DVD, and I'm glad I was able to cross this off my List of Shame. Now I just have to get to
Time Bandits, my last Gilliam film on that list.
What the color coding means...
Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is(From Antares' Short Summations on January 29th, 2014)
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May 19, 2024, 12:10:32 PM
