Brazil |  | Actors: Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Jim Broadbent, Anthony G. Brown, Patrick Connor, Robert De Niro
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  413 reviews
Sales Rank: 299665
Format: NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 143 Minutes
UPC: 014381201673
EAN: 0014381201673
ASIN: B00008FEEC
Theatrical Release Date: 1985
Release Date: March 31, 1998
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Amazon.com essential video
If Franz Kafka had been an animator and film director--oh, and a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus--this is the sort of outrageously dystopian satire one could easily imagine him making. However, Brazil was made by Terry Gilliam, who is all of the above except, of course, Franz Kafka. Be that as it may, Gilliam sure captures the paranoid-subversive spirit of Kafka's The Trial (along with his own Python animation) in this bureaucratic nightmare-comedy about a meek governmental clerk named Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) whose life is destroyed by a simple bug. Not a software bug, a real bug (no doubt related to Kafka's famous Metamorphosis insect) that gets smooshed in a printer and causes a typographical error unjustly identifying an innocent citizen, one Mr. Buttle, as suspected terrorist Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro). When Sam becomes enmeshed in unraveling this bureaucratic glitch, he himself winds up labeled as a miscreant. The movie presents such an unrelentingly imaginative and savage vision of 20th-century bureaucracy that it almost became a victim of small-minded studio management itself--until Gilliam surreptitiously screened his cut for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, who named it the best movie of 1985 and virtually embarrassed Universal into releasing it. This DVD version of Brazil is the special director's cut that first appeared in Criterion's comprehensive (and expensive) six-disc laser package in 1996. Although the DVD (at a fraction of the price) doesn't include that set's many extras, it's still a bargain. --Jim Emerson
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 413
 'Brazil', beyond fantasy or satire... January 1, 2010
David Wilkins (Minnesota)
Seems to me that you enter the world of 'Brazil' or you don't, and that's not a critique of the viewer or an elitist snub. But if you do check-in, if you buy the fantasy, some aspect of it might take up residence in a corner of your mind: a word, a mental image, or a quote you love but can't apply to anything. If you're one of the legion who don't connect with it, you're likely to walk away irritated.
Brazil, like a well cut gemstone, has facets that reflect differently in the eye of each viewer. The story isn't oriented toward past, present or future, because it belongs to all three. Brazil is Orwellian, albeit heavily laced with absurdity and inky dark humor. The world depicted has aspects of our own, but with an odd cross-breeding of technologies and fashions that keep it in some parallel universe where all our worst fears and anxieties about society have come true. In it we observe the life of Sam Lowrey (Jonathan Pryce), an awkward everyman who instinctively craves more than his impersonal and bureaucratic world has to offer. He bristles at the often suggested path of personal ambition, because it brings little more than a deeper trip into the cold labyrinth. Instead of maintaining his designated place in the machinery of society, he strikes out in his own timid way, in search of personal meaning and passion. In doing so, he enters into another kind of labyrinth altogether.
Brazil is another venture into the sub-genre of absurdist-fantasy by its master, Terry Gilliam. Catchy as the label of absurdist-fantasy might be, there are many more flavors in the mix. Gilliam seems to enjoy amazing and entertaining us with one hand, while delivering commentary with the other...in this instance, commentary about our species that's anything but light or humorous. Don't be distracted by the occasional visual effect fashioned from craft paper or a trinket found in the trash; the budget was practically nonexistent. Brazil is a grand toast to story telling, interpretation, and the brassy bravado of imagination.
So far as the quality of the disc is concerned: it's hands down, the best currently available. This is the single disc edition from Criterion's 3-disc opus, and doesn't contain any of the extra features that are on the other 2 discs. But all in all, if it's the originally intended director's cut you're after, without bells and whistles, this is the way to go. Hopefully we'll see a Blu-ray edition some day; until then, this is as good as she gets.
 Soft totalitarianism December 23, 2009
Andreas Faust (Tasmanian Autonomous Zone)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Filled with startling and grotesque visuals and dark, surreal humour, 'Brazil' (made in 1985) is highly prophetic in its portrayal of soft totalitarianism and the way it would develop in Western countries like England; more so even than '1984', which portrays an overtly Communist society. 'Brazil' is of greater relevance now than when it was made, given that the nanny state is growing stronger day by day. Could even Gilliam have envisioned the pornographic body scanners recently installed at Heathrow Airport?
It is relevant, too, in its depiction of highly sophisticated technology which nonetheless keeps breaking down (the machines often appear alive in a demented way), with one technological glitch leading to the arrest of an innocent man for terrorism.
'Brazil' is brilliant satire, but offers no answers. In the end, the central character escapes only through his dreams, while in reality the State remains triumphant. This begs the question - are dreams more real than 'reality'?
Dark Future September 24, 2009
Michael Kerjman (The Earth)
Nice futuristic work of the future where egocentrism and personal greed had taken absurd heights.
A low profile top official has his life turned upside down with emotions experienced from a different epoch.
Good work is a bit old-fashioned as too much similar was later created with an advanced audio/visual technology.
Awesome September 12, 2009
J. Bowden (Afghanistan)
The first time I watched this video was during a tour in Afghanistan and I saw the cover and my intrest was peaked. I enjoy watching a wide range of movies. After watching for the first time Brazil instantly jumped to one of my top 10 all time favorites. If you are the type of person who only watches blockbusters then don't watch this movie and comlain about it. This movie is for someone that knows a great movie when they see it. But for everyone else watch this movie and enjoy it. watch the Love Conquers All edition first so you can see how bad movie studios butcher films when you sit down and watch the Directer's cut.
Terry Gilliam at his best September 12, 2009
H. Brown (Atlanta)
This movie is fantastic. We had it on VHS and the upgrade to DVD is well worth it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 413
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