Bizarre Brazil

Last night I had the surreal "pleasure?" of watching Terry Gilliam's Brazil(1985).



Now I have to tell you that I don't think I had time to try and figure out what this movie was about the whole 2hrs 20min I sat watching it. It ended and both Mack and I remained sitting exactly where we were, completely numb and yet enthralled at the same time.

I thought that possibly sleeping on my confusion would help me compartmentalize this movie (I have to do this to everything, it just makes my brain happier), or possibly make up my mind about the subtext of the movie (I was a film major for heaven's sake, I should be able to dissect a film completely). Possibly the reason I can't come to a conclusion about the subtext is because there isn't just one.
I think the whole "man versus machine" text is pretty blatant, then there is the whole "the cost of literally pursuing your dreams/fantasies" at the same time as the "dreams/fantasies are never the same in reality" texts. The "price of consumerism on society" text is also pretty blatant. There are so many other subtexts that I can't completely wrap my mind around right now, like the uncomfortability of the incongruity of the dialog and visuals - they use innocuous terms like "information retrieval" instead of "torture and interrogation". It makes complete sense that this was a deliberate device now that I'm writing it, but in the context of the film, your senses are so bombarded that such obvious things get overlooked in the search for the way deeper meaning.

I have to say thought that there were a couple of scenes that made Mack and me look at one another in total confusion, and then others that made us both laugh out loud.

This picture is from a scene where we both laughed out loud. The protagonists Mother is getting prepped for a face lift. The picture speaks for itself.




I just have to end with this completely pompous quote from a review on Imdb by user mariogreymist: "Brazil is a very cerebral film, so if you are thinking, "What does cerebral mean?" you can probably skip it. Anyone who expects to have a story clearly spelled out for them, and done so in a concise manner with little background interference will hate Brazil. Brazil is a film for those who want texture, emotional involvement and some sort of deeper meaning."

Personally I think the film is just weird, which is what I think the insane genius Terry Gilliam was going for.