Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) - Dream of Life

[A. Bengel]

Dream of Life

Sam Lowry tries to blend. In a future where buildings have no limit, blocking out the sky, Lowry works as an invaluable cog in the governmental machine of an unspecified country in what could be either the present or the immediate (within fifteen years) future. He works hard, glad not to be noticed or, God forbid, promoted. His friends and his powerful mother encourage him to advance, and he has the capability, but he is content with things the way they are. Then it happens.

He sees Jill Layton in a fuzzy security camera monitor. His eyes widen. Everything inside him that has up until now only shown itself in exotic and unreal dreams can come alive. The faceless woman who has called to him for so long now has a personage. One that he must pursue at all costs.

“Brazil”, directed by Terry Gilliam, depicts the struggle for identity in a world based on mechanized and even aggressive anonymity. Gilliam shows his audience a world of papers, of endless bureaucracy. Human beings easily become lost in this world. Literally in the case of Mr. Buttle. With his mother being an extremely powerful and influential figure in the system, at a glance Lowry’s existence might seem particularly dependent on the complex, mechanized perfection of the grey city he inhabits. But Lowry rejects it. He rebels against the pressures of his mother and the high society in which she lives. She tells him not to be so feeling. But he wants to feel. He has compassion that many of his acquaintances lack. She wants him to take a promotion she set up for him. He turns it down, only taking it up again in order to find his girl.

As the film moves us through the different levels of government, we are shown a system with no accountability. When Buttle is arrested, it is one man’s fault, and as far as that man knows all he did was to kill a bug. No branch of the government is willing to take responsibility for the unfortunate mishap, all washing their hands of the incident, even Jack Lint, the man who physically killed him.

Lint encourages Lowry, his longtime acquaintance, to accept the promotion, but Sam sees the strain that Jack’s high-end job is causing him. And Lowry’s boss, Mr. Kurtzmann exemplifies the stress caused by responsibility.
The film’s title represents a world away from all the stress. Away from the shuffling papers, the faceless security guards, the lack of social connection. A world where one has an identity. Jill helps Lowry find his. When all hope is lost, when Jill has died and Lowry is about to be tortured, Brazil comes to him. Because he has loved and been loved, he is able to picture a world outside of his present existence. His dream of a grassy world which was overcome by massive, black skyscrapers, once so distant and abstract, comes to him clear as day. He sees nature again. He sees Jill again.

As a tagline says: “It’s only a state of mind.”

[CThompson]

What a perfect name for a movie, the name itself is so ironic, but yet stays true to its meaning. “Brazil”, directed by Terry Gilliam, is a mind turner. I have never seen this one before, and it was one of those movies that left me thinking after viewing. So many weird and interesting props and expressions used through out the film, example being Sam’s mother’s bright orange hair at one point with a backwards shoe as a hat, or all the ducts going through everything. Where those ducks are going and where they are coming from? I have no clue. But people just see them as everyday life, where if I saw something like that I would be extremely weirded out a scared. But its no problem, even in fancy restaurants or Sam’s mother’s exotic home, these huge ugly ducts. I don’t know, I couldn’t really understand it. But one more thing I had a question about, were these bombings. The scene where Sam, his mother, his mother’s friend, and her daughter I believe, are all out to dinner, these he bombs go off, and I doesn’t even bother them! Bloody waiters are stumbling out of the kitchen, and people knocked over all dirty, and no one at there table even thinks to look. Why is no one paying attention to these bombs? Something I guess I will have to bring up in discussion.

But looking over this particular post, A. Bengel mentions how once Sam was loved and had loved, when is about to be tortured, Brazil comes to him. I never thought of it that way when I was watching the film. Brazil does come to him, he knows what he finally wants and he goes to it, in his state of mind. Either way, he is there with his lover, and out in the nature. Nature looks like a sanctuary at this point; like once you are out there you are safe. During the entire film, I wanted to ask why wouldn’t Sam just pack up what’s left of his apartment and go out into the world and start a new life. At any point I was waiting for him to say, you know I am going to go start a new life, a life I know I will love to live. But I guess he doesn’t know what he wants until the very end, until he is strapped to a chair about to be cut, until Brazil comes to him. The song by the way, I think is very beautiful. Sang by Ary Barosso in 1939, I find the song to be very smooth with great melody, cleansing. I guess everything the movie isn’t.


Charlotte Thompson

[JWray]

There is a lot to say about the government in “Brazil”. The overall message is the government, in the movie, has no accountability. Each branch of the government tries to relay responsibility onto the other branches. When Jill wants to fill out a form of wrongful arrest, each government agency tells her she needs another form from a different agency. And when Buttle gets over-charged for his torture, Mr. Kurtzman first reaction is to think about how he can pass the fault on to somebody else. Nobody in the government actually wants do any work. They spend their time finding ways to not work, like when the workers at Lowry’s old job just watch movies all day. This government isn’t for the people, it’s for itself. It only cares about doing the least amount of work possible.
Being in the country of Brazil is not actually his dream. It’s not Brazil he wants to go to, Brazil is just a manifestation of the freedom that he desires. Brazil has this reputation of being a place where everybody is relaxed and free. It is the antithesis of the society that Lowry lives in. Even though Lowry claims to have no dreams or aspirations, what he really wants is the freedom to not have to do anything like that. He wants to be free; free from paperwork, his job and especially his mom. In the movie, this surfaces as his dream where he is flying. Flying has always been a symbol freedom, whether it’s in literature or movies. He doesn’t dream of being on a beach in Southern America, he dreams about being free.

[aburns]

Like Peter, Same Lowry from “Brazil” (Terry Gilliam, 1985) lived a rather monotonous life as a white collar worker. Sam was also prone to “not wanting anything”. I find it interesting that the term “I don’t want anything” is abused by those who seem to ‘have everything’ when asked what they want for birthday’s and other holidays. I also feel that usually what these people actually want is “a hug” or “just to spend some time with the family” which, in my opinion, is a cry for human interaction. In this case, as well as in Peter’s, I feel that human interaction is all Sam really wants. And then he sees Jill.

I would agree that Jill is ultimately responsible for causing the change in Sam’s life that leads to his downfall but I don’t really think this is a bad thing. I do find it ironic that Sam only burrows his way further into the system in order to find and connect with her, a terrorist. True, he does eventually rebel, causing him to lose his job, the only person whom he has ever really cared about, and in a way his life. He wasn’t physically dead, but mentally he had moved on to a better world (which is a possibility after death). I would say that Sam’s ignorance of his situation at the end of the movie is in fact bliss, but I feel that knowing that he was so close to true happiness, real happiness that happened in his own world and not just in his dream world adds a tragic undertone to the movie “Brazil”.