 Filmed
in 1985 and featuring a powerful cast, Brazil is often unknown to
many. This movie offers a cynical look at modern societies and, by pushing the
metaphors and stereotypes to the extreme, transforms a nation into an Orwellian
world. Sad yet amusing, this flick ventures along lines not often traveled before.
Brazil is the story of an ordinary man working for a heavily bureaucratized
government and of his dream to become something else. As he tries to go out of
his way to help out a victim of bureaucracy, he finds himself hunted down as an
enemy of the state when he encounters the woman of his dreams. Aided by his mother
while through society, he would meet a fringe air-conditioning repairman who will
teach him to reach out and live his dreams.
 A
really good aspect of Brazil is that it is timeless. Although it played
upon the notion of the 1980's big companies being large monolithic firms without
sentiments for the people, it still applies today whenever one enters some badly
managed government building. A sheer childish example would be of the French Astérix
cartoon character being faced with obtaining a A-37 form in "the building
that drives mad". Brazil is, with its gorgeous sets and numerous metaphors,
a movie that offers a great deal of thinking material.
While not many might have seen this movie before, it is really worth watching,
and many times more than once. If you liked such movies as Monty Python's The
Meaning of Life (1983) or Time Bandits (1981), add a touch of 1984
without the Dark City (1998) complete gloom and you have Brazil.
A place that could be anywhere. It could be your town. You could be living in
it right now. Just remember, we're all in it together...
Review by René-Marc Simard. |
