Brazil [Blu-ray]

I wasn't sure from a very brief description whether I was going to like this or not, but having just finished it, I must admit that it is a masterpiece.As you will learn if you happen to buy the Criterion Collection 2-disc set (always with an insightful commentary in booklet form) Terry Gilliam's 1985 masterpiece was made on a budget of $15 million (true, 30 years later that would be $30 or more, but popular films released around the time of Brazil, like Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and Star Wars films, and Ghostbusters, I think had much larger budgets, were very popular, and unlike this movie, they were purely for entertainment.Gilliam too knows entertainment as a member of Monte Python, and is joined by another famous member, Michael Palin in a substantial role. Back to the $15 million: he made amazingly good use of the money. Considering he had several good actors and actresses to pay, and every set in the film looks futuristic, and therefore took extra attention to design, for such an early film with this budget, the sets and the cinematography are brilliant.The visual atmosphere is usually somewhat misty or foggy and frequently a combination of blues and greys, accentuated by police-warning like, flashing red lights coming from somewhere out of visual range. The mistiness in the city represents I'm guessing, air pollution [like the city of Blade Runner] while in his dreams or daydreams, it simultaneously represents that it's an imaginary scene.The film alludes to more cultural influences and mixes more different styles and dichotomies than I could track by memory, but let's return to basics. It's set in a dystopian future [many elements of which are like a collapsed past] in which the State has almost total control. However it is so overly-bureaucratic, simultaneously omnipotent and incompetent, that society is gradually falling apart, though no one wants to acknowledge this fact. In that basic concept, its strongest roots are Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Castle" and George Orwell's "1984".I found this week absolutely the most perfect week to have watched the movie. For example, the action is set over a few days leading up to Christmas, and today is Christmas Eve. Reference is made early on in the film to the "war on terror" and a skeptical query as to how it is going. It's pointed out that "the bombing campaign has been going on now for 13 years!" A smug superior replies, "Sometimes you just get lucky!" The US has been at war in Afghanistan now for about 13 years. Of course when Gilliam wrote this, there was no 13 year-long bombing campaign going on anywhere, so one might see it as a prophetic snippet of his many visions in the film.The film has nothing to do with Brazil except for the title and a romantic, nostalgic song about Brazil, pieces of which are sung periodically throughout the movie. The song represents the mood: a love lost in the past, or perhaps only in one's imagination. One never knows in what country or city this is taking place, but soon realizes that doesn't matter; it could be anywhere in the world some time in the future.One sees a reflection of the massive, blocky, uninteresting architecture of Communist Russia, the chief effects of which seemed to be projecting a feeling of the massive power of the State and the insignificance of individuals. One sees some designs which look quite reminiscent of Nazi Germany symbols. These are some examples I mentioned of reference to past collapsed totalitarian experiments. One also sees futuristic ideas--but a very uninspired future, because creativity has been suppressed. A central theme throughout the film are ducts. Right--DUCTS--quite large ones, like you see in the basements of large buildings: conducting hot air, cool air, natural gas, electrical wiring, hot and cold water pipes, negative-pressure, steam, or whatever. Here the ducts are everywhere--not just in basements but behind the walls, running along the floor in interior rooms, in the streets...the very first scene of the film is an advertisement for new, improved ducts now in many color choices: get yours soon, while supplies last!The film alternates between the "reality" of the main character's life, which he finds frustrating, alienating and even frightening in the extreme, and his day (and night) dreams in which he sees himself like a futuristic Icarus, flying with beautiful golden or silver wings, but also wielding a two-hand sword and armor like a medieval British knight. As the dreaming unfolds one sees him trying to rescue a beautiful girl with long, flowing gold tresses, blue eyes and an exquisite face, but confronted by a monstrous, futuristic dragon---mechanical looking, and also rather like an ancient Mayan god--perhaps an homage to South and Central American culture due to the film title. The critic notes its skin appears to incorporate computer parts. I also noted when pierced, flames spout from its wounds, as if it was a leaking gas-duct.A question was raised whether there were any "terrorists" at all or whether the frequent explosions rocking the city (which most of the inhabitants just ignore) are caused by leaking gas-ducts due to poor maintenance [and indeed the maintenance workers, like everyone else, are a mixture of incompetence and malevolence]--but there does seem to be an active resistance to the State causing at least some of the explosions...Everything is done in the worst possible fashion in the city. The critic observed "rather than large computer screens, they put a magnifying screen in front of tiny monitor screens". Of course there's always a plethora of paperwork to be filled out for everything, and no one ever seems to have the right forms available...The main character in the course of his work, meets a blonde woman who immediately strikes him as very like the girl he loves in his dreams (though her hair is cut short). He immediately tries to learn more about her--which gets him in trouble at work. In the end, she IS identified as the girl he dreamed about, though those beautiful long tresses, like so much in this world, were fake--a wig.Some of the dichotomies toyed with are: the individual vs. the State, city vs. country, past vs. future, reality vs imagination, ugly vs. beautiful, youth vs age, heroism vs terrorism, creativity vs regulation, materialism vs genuine relationships [at one point one sees a slogan, "Consumers for Christmas"], serious vs funny, merely incompetent vs actually malevolent, conservative vs radical, protecting vs suppressing, wealth vs poverty, and more. Most important is Gilliam's wonderful sense of irony, capable of depicting the worst of humanity in a movie that sometimes is downright comedic.Commercially it was a troubled tale. Gilliam released it first in Europe at 142 minutes and it was well-received. Universal Studios, appalled both at the length and the tone of the movie [remember--this is Ghostbusters era] cut it to a conventional 94 minutes with a classic, happy-ever-after Hollywood type ending. Gilliam pulled a diplomatic coup and eventually forced Universal Studios to release a 132 minute long version. The Criterion Collection version, now called "Terry's final cut" is back to 142 minutes, though apparently slightly different from the first version. PS: I see references to a prior massive 6 DVD set, a 3-DVD set, as well as the basic one-DVD, but this was the 2012 Blu-Ray Criterion Collection set which with higher capacity, compacts everything into just 2 discs.This is clearly a classic of film history. If it's available pay-per-view, this is a great time and year to view it. I give it an "A".

Since Amazon lumps the reviews for all the various releases of this movie together, I want to be clear that this review is for the single disc, 132 minute blu-ray version with the cover picture of smiling man made of bricks with the word "Brazil" flying out of the top of his head.For those who don't know the history of this movie - there are at least three different versions. It was originally released in Europe as a nearly two and half hour long film. The studio who financed it didn't like that version because it A. was too long, B. was too uncommercial and C. had a dark, depressing ending. The contract they had with Gilliam stipulated that the movie had to be less than 2 hours and 15 minutes, so it could have multiple prime-time showings in theaters. They suggested he cut the ending.Gilliam refused, so the studio took it upon themselves to create the "Love Conquers All" version, which chopped out almost an hour of footage - they only kept the parts that showed the main character Sam in a heroic light, anything that contributed to the Sam/Jill love story and anything that featured Robert DiNero. And, of course, the ending was changed to a happy ending by removing the final scene. Also, to make the plot easier to follow, they used some alternate takes, some deleted footage and hired voice actors to overdub dialog.Unsurprisingly, Gilliam didn't want that version released, so he finally edited the movie down to 2 hours and 12 minutes, kept the dark ending and made a few other minor changes and the studio was contractually obligated to release that version to theaters in the United States.It's this US version that appears on the blu-ray, with absolutely no additional features (not even the Gilliam commentary that's included on most other releases of the film). Annoyingly, they also added advertisements for other movies to the main menu screen. But I'm still happy to have this version, because it's the first time I've seen the "US edit" since originally seeing the film in a theater on the campus of Penn State back in my college days.I can't really write an unbiased review of the movie itself, because from that first viewing I became obsessed with both Brazil and Terry Gilliam's films in general. I bought all his movies on VHS as soon as they came out and eventually replaced them with DVDs. I bought the 3-DVD Criterion "Final Cut" version of Brazil back when it was an expensive new release. I was surprised that it included scenes I'd never seen before - I think it's based mostly on the European version, with some additional tweaks by Gilliam. It also included the "Love Conquers All" version of the movie and a ton of bonus features. Sadly though, it wasn't animorphic, so on my widescreen TV it put black letterboxing bars on all four sides, shrinking the picture down to about 60% of the screen.This blu-ray was exactly what I was looking for. While it's missing a few (non-essential) scenes, it's the version of the movie that I "grew up" with and is presented in full 16X9 animorphic widescreen. It's the best looking version I've seen since originally seeing it in the theater. For example, I never really noticed the makeup on Katherine Hellmond at the beginning of the movie to make her look older (pre-surgery), but it's clearly visible on the blu-ray. I've always felt bad for one actress during the explosion scene in the restaurant because it looks like she really does get hit by some of the flying debris - the blu-ray is maybe a little too clear there, because now I can tell it's just a dressed-up mannequin.As for the movie itself - it's one of those films you'll either love or hate. Its alternate-reality, retro-futuristic look makes it seem nearly as fresh and amazing today as it did when it first came out. And the background plot of a government bureaucracy turning a country into a surveillance state in response to a perceived terrorist threat - I know it was based on things happening in England at the time, but it's like Gilliam had a crystal ball and looked 30 years into the United States' future. The alternating between "reality" and dream sequences and the general Gilliam quirkiness will probably put a lot of people off, but it's what drew me to this movie in the first place.If you become fanatical about the movie like I am, you'll need both this blu-ray and the Criterion release. To fully experience the film you need to see every version (even the Love Conquers All version) because each one includes bits that aren't in any of the others.If you do decide to watch Brazil and find that you like it, give some of Gilliam's more recent movies a try, like The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassis and The Zero Theorem. Really, if you like odd, out-of-the-mainstream movies that you'll be thinking about for days after you see them, you can't go wrong with pretty much any Terry Gilliam film.

This movie came out shortly after 1984's cinema release. The parody is better than the source material. Terry Gilliam never disappoints with the visuals. It is coated in Art Deco, and you find your eyes moving all over to soak it all in.Daily life is busy, often too busy. There's bureaucracy everywhere. One small mistake, one bug, can derail society. We thought this would have been with the y2K bug, but thankfully not.This movie is a must watch.

BRAZIL [1985/2014] [Limited Edition Steelbook] [Blu-ray] The Truth Will Make You Free! It’s Only A State Of Mind!It's only a state of mind. Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowry in this surrealistic spectacle about a daydreaming bureaucrat trapped in a future dystopia where love is forbidden from interfering with efficiency. But with the help of an underground superhero [Robert De Niro] and a beautiful mystery woman [Kim Greist], Sam learns to soar to freedom on the wings of his untamed imagination, or so he thinks. Acclaimed filmmaker Terry Gilliam directs with an acerbic wit and poet's eye that dazzles like never before in glorious high.FILM FACT: Awards and Nomination: Academy Awards®: Nominated: Original Screenplay. Nominated: Best Art Direction for Norman Garwood and Maggie Gray. Ary Barroso's 1939 song "Aquarela do Brasil" ("Watercolor of Brazil", often simply "Brazil") in a version specifically performed by Geoff Muldaur is the leitmotif of the movie, although other background music is also used. Michael Kamen, who scored the film, originally recorded "Brazil" with vocals by Kate Bush. This recording was not included in the actual film or the original soundtrack release; however, it has been subsequently released on re-pressings of the soundtrack. According to Gilliam in an interview with Clive James in his online programme “Talking in the Library,” to his surprise ‘BRAZIL’ is apparently a favourite film of the far right in America.Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist, Jim Broadbent, Barbara Hicks, Charles McKeown, Derrick O'Connor, Kathryn Pogson, Bryan Pringle, Sheila Reid, John Flanagan, Ray Cooper, Brian Miller, Simon Nash, Prudence Oliver, Simon Jones, Derek Deadman, Nigel Planer, Terence Bayler, Gorden Kaye, Tony Portacio, Bill Wallis, Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Elizabeth Spender, Antony Brown, Myrtle Devenish, Holly Gilliam, John Pierce Jones, Ann Way, Don Henderson, Howard Lew Lewis, Oscar Quitak, Harold Innocent, John Grillo, Ralph Nossek, David Gant, James Coyle, Patrick Connor, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Russell Keith Grant, Sue Hodge, Sadie Corre (uncredited), Margarita Doyle (uncredited), Dominic Ffytche (uncredited), Terry Forrestal (uncredited), Terry Gilliam (uncredited), John Hasler (uncredited), Frank Jakeman (uncredited), Sergio Kato (uncredited) and Peter Sands (uncredited)Director: Terry GilliamProducers: Arnon Milchan and Patrick CassavettiScreenplay: Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam and Tom StoppardComposer: Michael KamenCinematography: Roger PrattVideo Resolution: 1080pAspect Ratio: 1.85:1Audio: English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo AudioSubtitles: English SDHRunning Time: 137 minutesRegion: All RegionsNumber of discs: 1Studio: 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘BRAZIL’ [1985] is from director/co-screenwriter Terry Gilliam, and is a combination of science-fiction, despairing black comedy and fantasy that combines elements of Fritz Lang's ‘Metropolis’ [1927], Stanley Kubrick's ‘Dr. Strangelove’ [1964], ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [1966], Stanley Kubrick's ‘A Clockwork Orange’ [1971] and Ridley Scott's ‘Blade Runner’ [1982].Throughout this superb film that satirizes modern technological society; one can glimpse numerous government propaganda signs, billboards, posters and writings that preach conformity and Big Brother wariness - all references to Orwell's 1984. [The signs are credited to co-scriptwriter Charles McKeown.] Police are represented as Nazi-like storm troopers, and the names of two major officials have stereotypical German names: Kurtzmann and Helpmann.The influential film's enigmatic title refers to the popular Latin song from the late 1930s by Arry Barroso, often used as an escapist theme in the orchestral soundtrack by Michael Kamen. Other titles were considered for the film: ‘The Ministry of Torture,’ ‘1984’ (homage to Fellini's ‘8 ½’), and ‘How I Learned to Live with the System,’ so far. The normal workers in society are docile, powerless, and obedient - to avoid calling attention to themselves and ending up eradicated (literally and figuratively) from the files in the Ministry of Information's flawed computer system.This popular and compelling film with a large cult following is one of the most visually imaginative, breath-taking, eccentric films ever created, with incredible sets, dazzling inventiveness and production design by Norman Garwood. The film is so visually dense that it takes several viewings to fully comprehend i.e., the billboard slogans, the user-unfriendly technical gadgets, the unforgettable images, etc. The most memorable and outrageous components in the absurdist film include the ugly, violent, nightmarish urban environment, and the miles of inept plumbing, piping and ductwork that continually proliferate and threaten to malfunction. The title is based on the Ary Barroso/S.K. Russell song of the same name, with the lyrics: "Brazil” and includes the words, “Where hearts were entertaining June.” “We stood beneath an amber moon.” “And softly murmured 'someday soon,'” “We kissed and clung together,” “Then, tomorrow was another day,” “The morning found me miles away” and “With still a million things to say."The morose and complex plot, set in a decaying, terrorist-threatened London type metropolis with a Fascist government, revolves around a meek, unambitious, and humble urban worker/computer expert named Sam Lowry [Jonathan Pryce] in the red tape-plagued, bureaucratic Ministry of Information. As a lone hero, he combats the real technological threat of “The Machine Age” to his life by his fantasies of defiance as a winged saviour during his nightly dreams. To escape reality and his grinding down by oppressive, official forces, both in the real world and in his imaginative dreams, in the form of evil creatures, he dreamily wings his way into the sky with lofty but doomed flights and away from technology toward a blonde fantasy-dream girl [Kim Greist]. The film's chain of events is set in motion by a clerical error, which condemns an innocent man, and causes Sam to meet his dream girl who is a suspected terrorist. His apparent salvation from the nightmarish, chaotic, paper-choked, poorly-functioning society comes in the form of a guerrilla heating-engineer and terrorist enemy of the state Harry Tuttle [Robert De Niro], whose renegade behaviour is opposed by the state's own Central Services representative [Bob Hoskins] and Sam's friend-turned-sinister MOI official Jack Lint [Michael Palin]. But in the end, the lowly and self-deluded worker is persecuted and tortured to death while again imagining escape to an illusory idyllic paradise that is free of societal restrictions.However, it may be argued that the existence of “terrorists” in the film i.e., Jill Layton [Kim Greist], Harry Buttle [Robert De Niro] and Sam Lowry [Jonathan price] are all accused of being terrorists, and various “terrorist” acts, i.e., the restaurant and shop bombing, the blown up car, are deliberately made ambiguous and it is very probable that the central threat of terrorism is the government's way to silence deviation, provoke fear, cover up its multiple errors, and provide a scapegoat enemy. Viewers must interpret this central theme of the film for themselves and recognise the fact that ironically and there may be no terrorists at all.Former animator Terry Gilliam, is famous for his work in the TV comedy ‘Monty Python's Flying Circus’ and in his two previous films ‘Time Bandits’ [1981] and ‘Monty Python's The Meaning of Life’ [1983], and wrote the screenplay for the bleak, futuristic film with playwright Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown. Its two Academy Award nominations were for Best Screenplay and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration both unrewarded with Oscars. The film, a merging of fantasy and reality, was considered part of a "dreamer" trilogy, of sorts, an Age of Reason trilogy reflecting the different ages of man's reason and of Terry Gilliam himself, in which reason is the opposite of fantasy and dreaming.The film fared poorly and disappointingly at the box-office. However, in intervening years, especially after the release of the original, full-length Director's Cut (142 minutes long, combining footage from both the American and European theatrical release versions) which of course is the shorter version with this particular Blu-ray disc, and it has been critically-acclaimed as a social satire on the dehumanising, claustrophobic effects of technology and government, and regarded as one of the greatest cult classics ever made.Blu-ray Video Quality – The film has been framed at 1.85:1 for this 1080p transfer. It’s a stunning-looking encode with superb sharpness which offers tons of detail to the viewer and colour saturation which is rich without ever going overboard. Flesh tones are very realistic and appealing throughout. While black levels may be a shade or two lighter than optimum levels, the wonderfully dialled-in contrast makes the most of the image quality and is by far the best the film has ever looked on home video.Blu-ray Audio Quality – The 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio track might not have the rich fidelity of more modern movie fantasies, but it plays quite well for the purposes of this film. If the explosions lack a bit of depth and impact and there are a fair number of them in the film, the other sound effects and the music all come forth very well in this lossless transfer. Dialogue is always discernible, especially as it is always placed in the centre channel with the 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio track.Blu-ray Special Features and Extra:Special Feature: What Is Brazil? [1985] [480i] [4:3] [29:08] This is on-set documentary directed by Rob Hedden, Terry Gilliam, editor Julian Doyle, co-writer Tom Stoppard, co-writer Charles McKeown, co-producer Patrick Cassavetti, and actors Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmond, Kim Greist and Michael Palin, among others, discuss what ‘BRAZIL’ is and what is its messages is. Sadly the quality of this documentary is of totally shocking quality and would have been best it had not been included and have had some other extra from The Criterion Collection for example.Theatrical Trailer [1985] [1080i] [1.77:1] [3:30] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for ‘BRAZIL,’ but for some unknown reason it starts off as Black-and-White images, then eventually goes into colour, very strange?Finally, arguably Terry Gilliam's magnum opus, 'Brazil' is a bizarrely surreal, highly-imaginative black comedy set in a bleak, mechanical future. The frightful vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic hell is a visually-arresting film where fantastical dreams merge with dreary nightmares and features terrific performances by Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro and Michael Palin. Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and this controversial, cult sci-fi classic arrives onto Blu-ray with an excellent audio and video presentation and very badly lacking in any decent supplemental material, but despite this, I am so pleased to add this to my ever increasing Limited Edition SteelBook Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom

I will not say more about this film that so many people have spoken with enthusiasm.I bought this edition only for the attractive design of the steelbook. I guess there will be other concepts in the future for this ageless film.But I really like the limited one offered on amazon.uk! :-)

Very good and fantastic movie.I have watched that movie many times but on Blu-ray it is absolutely fantastic,

Brilliant film. A true classic and must see. Bob Hoskins, De Niro & Pryce were superb.

One of my Latime faves