Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) "We do the work, you do the pleasure!"

[kflagg]

In Terry Gilliam’s film Brazil technology is shown as something that takes away any real substance within a man's life. Brazil tells the story of Sam Lowery, a man devoid of any ambition or dreams, who has been suffocated by the rules and regulations the government has put in place. Advancements in technology have sucked the life out of man, as well as nature. The movie may be set around the time of 1985, but the ideas and problems presented in this film are more relevant today than they were two decades ago.

“I don’t want anything!" Sam yells at his mother partway through this bleak story. Sam has lived his life in monotony for so many years that he has lost the desire for any objects or possessions. Without any challenge, Sam has become bored with his life. He is content to spend his time at a low-level job that he is clearly overqualified, fixing meaningless problems all day long. Sam stays at his dead end job because he realizes that the jobs above and below him are just as pointless. When a person has no passion for their craft, why bother exerting any effort at all?

Without any effort or passion for work, the basic functions within society suffer. For example, when Sam’s heater breaks down, he receives nothing but incompetence from the Central Services department. When he calls in the problem, he connects to a lifeless recording. The men show up to repair his home hours later, but they are unable to repair his heater because Archibald "Harry" Tuttle beat them to the punch. Harry is a former Central Services worker who quit his job because he was tired of dealing with. Like Sam, Harry is able to see through the mess that the government has created. The entire system is bogged down with rules and paperwork because the government purposely makes procedures complicated to discourage people from taking any sort of action. Technology has enslaved this society into a life of uniformity and dullness. Every day starts the same and every day ends the same for Sam Lowery. By attempting to make life easier for man, life is actually more of a challenge for those not satisfied with just being a cog in the system.

As we are witnessing today, technology is also taking a toll on nature. Throughout the movie, paper is everywhere and as everyone knows, paper comes from trees. Not a single tree is seen in the city, nor are there any trees in the areas surrounding the city. Mankind has used natures resources for their own personal gain and left nothing but waste and desolation behind. As the movie progresses, Sam's mother looks younger and younger because of the constant plastic surgery she is receiving. She even spends Christmas day at the plastic surgeons. All this surgery is in attempt to reverse the aging process and cheat nature.

This film shows that when a man loses touch with the natural beauty in this world, and has no purpose in his occupation, life is meaningless. It is disturbing to see that this movie was made twenty four years ago yet all these problems exist today and are even more prevalent than ever before.

[ADeMeo]

I noticed that the Sam character was very similar to Peter’s in “Office Space”. Perhaps if Sam were living in modern-day America, he’d be Peter. KFlagg mentioned that Sam tells his mom he doesn’t “want anything” for Christmas. This sounds a lot like Peter’s desire to “do nothing” if he had a million dollars. Both films had a very bleak outlook on modern society, and I know that we viewed them one after another for a reason. But I think “Brazil” was way bleaker, because of the exaggerated, satirical look at how society as a whole could, and has become.

KFlagg also mentioned in passing Sam’s mother and her friends denying nature and getting as much plastic surgery as possible. Although this wasn’t the main social commentary in Gilliam’s film, it is one I noticed the most, because plastic surgery has become so normalized in Western society that we now have TV shows about it. The plastic surgery process as shown in “Brazil” was ridiculous and barbaric to our eyes, as I’m sure the director intended it to be, but what struck me was the unquestioning, matter-of-fact way Sam’s mom and her friends went through with it. In the world of “Brazil”, plastic surgery is almost as normalized among certain wealthy groups of women as it is in real life. They also have the most ridiculous fashions. I think the shoe-hats exposed just how arbitrary most women’s fashion really is.

[bvangundy]

I sincerely agree with there being a lack of human nature to do with a lot of the characters in this film. The main character, Sam lowery, goes to work every day to his dead end job just like everyone else. We see that these people are all bound by the technology. They all go to work and it seems as if they are doing a lot but in the end they spend a lot of time just watching TV.

At the beginning of the movie when we first see Sam walking into work I noticed a large picture on the wall of a working man. As Sam is walking into work he steps in front of it and it seems as if he replaced the man on the poster. This really shows the lack of ambition in the workplace. Everyone is the same, they all where the same suits, the same hats. With ambition comes change. The simple fact that everyone has conformed to what is thought to be the norm shows me that these people are not really trying to better themselves. If they were trying to better themselves then things would have changed over time. The poster on the wall shows us that it’s been the same for a significantly long amount of time.

Also in the movie we see a lot of pollution. We see that every vehicle and every factory are emitting so many toxins into the air that it is difficult to see at times. We see that people who have the money to pay can have fresh air by going to these stations on the sidewalks. People that have the money seem to be able to have fresh air piped right into their homes. People have completely lost their ambition to better the environment and instead only care about themselves. Even so we see that most people only care about doing nothing. People do not want to do anything but create the technology to sit back and have everything done for them. Thus the people in this world have lost their reason to work.

[D.Yergeau]

I completely agree with the other response that there is a strong connection between Sam Lowry and Peter Gibbons. I believe the connection lies in both of their apathetic personalities. I agree with most of the premise of this post based upon the fact that we as humans do believe consistently abuse nature. I think the reasons that we do this relate back to the discussion we had in class about how humans really don’t consider themselves “natural” anymore, and that we are completely unaffected by what happens in nature. I also agree with the rationale that the government is making it difficult for people who don’t want to be a cog in the system to be able to do anything about it. I felt that this is because the government is trying to keep people in place to make it look like they are doing something to prevent further bombings. Even though this proves to be counterproductive and the bombings continue. This is a section of the movie I felt was perhaps more relatable today than it was in 1985 when the movie was made.

[JBondurant]

I agree that the film makes more sense now, and is actually more relatable in 2009 than when it was made in the 1980’s. It is unnerving to hear, in the movie, the term “terrorist” applied loosely to people who the government deems as “subversive”, even if they are just trying to fix someone’s heating without the necessary paperwork. The United States government is doing much the same, and even uses the same word. Since 2001, our country has been at war with “terrorists”, which many are coming to realize was just a term used to scare people into yet another pointless war. And now it is coming back to haunt us, as “subversives” within the United States are being called terrorists as well. No, I’m not talking about the Al-Qaeda terrorists that are undoubtedly hiding out in your bushes at this very moment, I’m referring to lawful, American citizens that, in the eyes of the government, are terrorists. In the most recent release of the Department of Defense training manual, there is a multiple-choice question in the “knowledge test” in the section regarding terrorism. The question asks: Which of these is a form of low-level terrorism? The answer, surprisingly, is “protest” (google “department of defense training” manual for various sources). Keep in mind, this is “knowledge” test that all personnel are required to complete and understand to be true to serve in any division of the armed forces. To think that since this film’s creation roughly 15 years ago we have already started to see our government follow in the steps of the nightmare government of Brazil makes one wonder where we might be in another 15 years.

Another similarity that is along the same lines is the concept of torture in the film. A recent issue that received a great deal of attention was that of our treatment of “terror suspects” during interrogation. Copious instances have surfaced in which torture was allegedly used and justified in order to retrieve information. In the movie, the department which does the torturing is even called “information retrieval”. It’s a bureau of interrogation, which , as depicted in several scenes in the film, is brutally violent. Torture in the film was one of the most grisly aspects of the government, and I find the correlation to what we call a “current issue” striking. “Current issue” is in quotes for the fact that torture is not an issue; it is evil. The viewer in the film is made to be disgusted and scared by the torture, which is made even more unnerving by how it is portrayed as an everyday job. Steve ends up getting tortured by his old friend, before which his friend tells him that he would like to maintain a professional relationship. I have the same reaction to this juxtaposition of arguably one of the worst things that can happen (or rather, be done) to someone with casuality as I do when I hear reports on the “issue” of torture.

[mhollis]

I think the paragraph at the end of your post is an interesting point. It seems more like they are trying to cheat the natural process and copy nature in some ways. Art is just a form of imitation of Nature and this is exemplified with the “art” of plastic surgery. Sam’s mother and the other women in this film are addicted to plastic surgery because the normal standard they have accepted is to defy nature and see the natural process as inferior to what technology (medicine) can create. This applies to the entire theme of the film. Humans have the natural instinct to try and improve natures little imperfections and make it more convenient, aka less work. Technology keeps developing with it’s main goal being to overcome nature and replace it. In the scenario of Brazil it has successfully done so in creating a world where Technology has overcome Nature and simultaneously destroyed it. Today this theme is more relevant because we have seen the detrimental effects technology can have on our world and also how important nature is on our survival on this planet. We now use technology to attempt to preserve what little pieces of healthy environment we have left. Hopefully that means we won’t face the same destruction as seen in the film.

[N Dyer]

I agree the world in this movie is so desperately disconnected from the true nature of the world, that it becomes a monotonous and boring life style. Without the always prominent trees, grass, and beautiful colors that come from nature, the grey's, blacks, and whites seem to encase one in despair. All the men dress the same in a suit and tie; people no longer are people but merely workers for a government that is unsure of its own doings. While the workers pretend to be working when the boss is in the room, but turn on the television when he is not, their boss is doing the same thing for his boss.

Television is a prominent theme in Brazil. In almost every building there is a television showing a life that all wish that they had, however are unable to acquire due to the fact that everything is obliterated and that the only form of life is the air ducts that pump clean air to the wealthy for their own health. As this world continues to become less human throughout the movie, the people themselves loose feelings. The mother continues to get plastic surgery to look younger to defy nature, the bomb in the restaurant blows up workers and guests and the band continues playing as if nothing has happened. Every ounce of compassion has dwindled to nothing; people don’t care about the lives of the others around them. As Sam Lowery’s life changes and he begins to revolt against the government, symbolically his apartment begins to fall apart. First it is merely the heater breaking down, then the incompetent central service workers tear it apart, lastly the same workers freeze out the house and seize it for “repairs”.

Another thing that is very prominent in this movie is the suggestion of the Nazi’s and WWII. The guards are dressed similarly to that of a Nazi guard, when Sam is first going to work there is a sign that says something along the lines of “truth will set you free”. Still hanging above the infamous concentration camp Auschwitz “work will set you free” and as we know that work most defiantly did not set the prisoners free, it killed them. So perhaps the movie is suggesting that as we demoralize ourselves from passion, life, and nature with the work to advance ourselves toward better lives and better resources, we are also slowly killing ourselves.

[ltauber]

A theme we discussed in class, was the symbolism of ducts. Ducts are ubiquitous, in every scene whether they are covered in diamonds, or rusted and brown. Ducts bring the outside in, and in a land so saturated in pollution, they are a necessity.A ducts utilitarian purpose is to transport matter from one source to another. Intrinsically this poses no problems, but when all experience is traveling through an excluding conduit, the elements of reality, nature, and experience become obsolete. People are no longer able to stroll down the street and breath the fresh air, in fact, every natural occurrence has been boxed and sealed. Although nature is infrequent, is not portrayed as deficient. In fact, on the highway overpass, surrounded by high walls (blocking out any semblance of grass or sky)there are pictures of natural landscapes. I think this dichotomous comparison of nature vs. man/technology highlights the fact that we have separated ourselves from the devastation we have caused, and are now living in a non natural realm.
The town is overwhelmed by technology, it has become a giant organism seething smog smoke and fire. Nature is exiled in many ways (taping of the dogs rear, fresh air "stations", food that no longer resembles any real food). We have used technology to simulate the laws provided my nature. For example, the sun rises and wakes the birds automatically, as the alarm and toast machine are meant to wake people. Strangely, the characters in this film are striving for monotony and perfection, yet the movie is really only interesting when technology fails us and insinuates chaos. For example, Robert Dinero is introduced when the air-condition breaks, Mr. Buttle gets brought into the situation when a bug (nature) breaks the typing machine…so on and so forth. Although Brazil exaggerates the devastation we have caused unto nature, and focuses on all of the chaos and negative attributes, the underlying grounds still enforce that heroism and immediate action and autonomy are positive characteristics.