Brazil

Gilliam's dystopian epic remains among his best, blending his trademark visual inventiveness with a vicious brand of social satire. Unique and essential.

It's a glimmering hunk of fractured brilliance riddled with Orwellian paranoia encased in a production design seemingly pieced together from the shared dreams of Franz Kakfa and Salvador Dali, and shot from cruelly low angles.

A ferociously creative 1985 black comedy filled with wild tonal contrasts, swarming details, and unfettered visual invention--every shot carries a charge of surprise and delight.

Chillingly hilarious.

Brazil can be enjoyed without knowledge of the behind-the-scenes circumstances but the rich irony of the parallels between Gilliam and his fictional creation, Sam Lowry, add a layer of appreciation to the project that it otherwise lacks.

Blindingly obtuse, excessively morose, the film is nevertheless dazzling in its inventive and massive sets and spectacular in its techniques...A powerful work that is both bleakly funny and breathtakingly assured.

Brazil doesn't add up to much, not only because its cautionary tales are familiar, but because it has no real point of view, nothing urgent under its facile symbols. And the story winds on and on looking for a finish. Three or four times I reached for my coat prematurely. [17 Feb 1986, p.26]

It is one of those science-fiction motion pictures people may not have seen for many years, a remarkable cinematography, sets and greatest direction by Terry Gilliam, full of images that you need to experience with and those images have representations. If someone who is a Monty Python fan, I highly recommend this.

This is like a weird dystopian nightmare - less V for Vendetta and more 1984-ish, with a heavy emphasis on 'Big Brother' and government ministries. I knew it'd likely be a bit weird but it really is rather bonkers and there's not much context or information provided to the viewer as it goes on - we have to guess things as and when. I recognised a number of well known comedian/actors, including Bob Hoskins, Gorden Kaye, Michael Palin and of course Robert DeNiro. There is some witty dialogue present but its not what I'd call a particularly accessible film - its very quirky and surreal with a weighty feel to it, so you have to be in the right sort of mood for it I suppose. It's very much a film about corporate and indeed government based bureaucracy. It's quite dark in terms of the themes covered and the visual look of the film - most settings are in barely lit dark rooms. I suppose it does well at putting an oppresive feel across. I did laugh a bit at the scenes depicting a worker or manager being hounded by a gang of other workers asking him questions, as he rushed down a long, long hall, reminiscent of MPs being hounded by the press I suppose (not that I feel sorry for them most of the time), due to the upbeat music played during these sequences. There's an element of riddle present in some of whats said and given this film dates from the mid 1980s, its visually somewhat dated, a little like Blade Runner, only without the flying cars obviously. This is quite a niche sort of a film - not one that will likely appeal to too many people, certainly on first watch. I wouldn't really recommend this as such, as I don't think its the kind of film that will appeal to many unless your really in the mood for something off-centre.

The critics love this movie, but somehow I didnt enjoy it much. I guess it is too surrealistic. I didnt like the protagonist Sam Lowry and his teenage like behaviour to another character I didnt like, Jill Layton, who was half a man. So of course I didnt like their "love" also. And somehow the movie felt very long. Also the visual effects and sets needed much bigger budget in my view, because they look cheaply. The dystopian and bureaucratic world is well made though and something you will not forget so fast. And also there are some popular actors.

One of Gilliam's more coherent efforts but includes his trademark lunacy. Pryce is good.

I am really surprised about the number of positive reviews for this film !! it's one of the worst movies I've ever watched, I felt confused (what's going on?!) until the end of film, even the jokes were so silly. I know the film is talking about satirizing the dystopian society, but it was so messy and you don't know what's going on or why !! maybe if you watched it at that time you will like it, who knows! On my advice, don't waste 2 hours of your life on it.