'BRAZIL' -- SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

[Dr Doran]

I had to take a Philosophy course in college. After our segment on Descartes, all I could think about was Blade Runner. Somehow, that really clarified all the uncut Unicorn sequences and oragami animals.

I never put the names together though.

My mother in law is a Catholic and Polish. But she knows English. I showed her Blade Runner. She was amazed.
I asked her "In Catholic terms, do you think these replicants have souls?"
She said, "Yes, the blond one."

Interesting conversation ...

 

[Senator Jack]

I was so impressed by Time Bandits when it came out, that I ran to see Brazil the first week of its release. It was either at the Zigfield or one of the other older theaters, so you can imagine what it was like on a screen like that. Being it was the first week, the original cut was shown, and I didn't know the studio had got their hands on it and recut it before national distribution. About three years later I happened to catch it on television and wondered if I had dreamed up an entirely different picture. What's this scene? Where's that scene? What garbage.

I recall the 80s videotape version was the studio cut, too, so I haven't seen the original since 85. That ending always stayed with me, though. Throughout the picture you wonder why it's titled Brazil, and at the end Gilliam sucker punches you with the answer. Time to check Netflix.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[dr greg]

ends well

It's worth mentioning that the original title of Brazil was 1984+1/2, but George Orwell's estate wasn't happy about it so it was changed at the last moment, and according to Gilliam the title has no relevance at all to the story.

 

[Senator Jack]

according to Gilliam the title has no relevance at all to the story.

Though I believe he said it, I find it hard to believe that he believes it. Throughout the film, Sam dreams of escaping, and in a way, he does. Brazil, for some reason in our culture, has long been thought of as THE place to find escape, a new exotic life ('Rio...We're going to Rio'). I'm recalling this from twenty-two years ago, but isn't Sam humming 'Brazil' in the last shot?

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[dhermann1]

No, this Brazil was by Terry Gilliam, of Monty Python fame, and Tom Stoppard, made in 1985. Our hero, Sam, works in the Ministry of Information (MOI), typing on a huge linotype like machine with a screen that looks like a large magnifying lens. His mother keeps getting plastic surgery till there's nothing left of her. Bob Hoskins plays a demented ductwork guy. Very very surreal and disturbing. Sam wears wonderful mid 1930's suits. His mother wears a hat that looks like a shoe.

Oh, yes, and there's something about a dreamgirl (blonde, of course) who's going to rescue Sam, or maybe not. . .

 

[Dr Doran]

The song "Brazil" recurs throughout the ENTIRE movie!

OK let me get this straight. Isn't it supposed to end with him having lost his mind, or dead, and dreaming about flying? I saw the end only once and that was about a year ago. Is that the original ending? The director's ending? Do tell. I have no idea.

But those suits! Gorgeous.

 

[dr greg]

yep

Original ending as I saw in the cinema here the first week of release: she's dead, and he goes insane under torture, and his mind escapes into the dreams that he has throughout the film.

 

[CharlieH.]

Brazil... I've seen this movie dozens of times (complete version, not the dreaded Sheinberg edits) and I always find something new. Visually that is. I take great joy in witnessing such tremendous flights of imagination.
This was part of a trilogy about the desire to escape our ordered society through the ages of man, the other two films being Time Bandits and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. I could go on about the subject, but the meaning of it all is way beyond my verbal capabilities.

And yes, that is the real ending, he does crack under torture.

 

[Dr Doran]

Brazil... I've seen this movie dozens of times (complete version, not the dreaded Sheinberg edits) and I always find something new. Visually that is. I take great joy in witnessing such tremendous flights of imagination.
This was part of a trilogy about the desire to escape our ordered society through the ages of man, the other two films being Time Bandits and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. I could go on about the subject, but the meaning of it all is way beyond my verbal capabilities.

And yes, that is the real ending, he does crack under torture.

Interesting! Thanks. I did not conceive of them as a trilogy.

 

[Senator Jack]

I do remember 'Brazil' being played throughout, but I thought it was that final scene of him in the chair - escaping through his insanity (brought on by the torture) - and humming/bah-bahing the song that put the title into context. As I recall, the original cut ends with that shot of him in the chair, humming. Camera tracks back and credits come up. Did Gilliam or the studo add a flying scene? If it had been in the cut I saw, I don't think the film would have left me with the feeling of having witnessed genius.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[dr greg]

clarify

That was the final shot, but all the stuff before that where they break out in the truck, the Odessa steps pastiche etc....that was all his imagination.

 

[TM]

Getting back to Blade Runner, I noticed on my DVD that you can choose languages. So I ran it in French, without subtitles. What a great way to watch that film! Even though I can't understand French, it seemed fresh and even darker.

Try it!

Tony

 

[Dr Doran]

Getting back to Blade Runner, I noticed on my DVD that you can choose languages. So I ran it in French, without subtitles. What a great way to watch that film! Even though I can't understand French, it seemed fresh and even darker.

Try it!

Tony

I did that with Phantom Menace and it made it tolerable.

But back to Brazil: Jack, I don't know if I really remember flying at the end. All the flying stuff was very 80s in a bad way (like that cloudy unicorn sequence in Blade Runner betraying its 80s-ness). Maybe it was a figment.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

May I suggest to put a spoiler warning to the thread title?

 

[griffer]

Getting back to Blade Runner, I noticed on my DVD that you can choose languages. So I ran it in French, without subtitles...

I really enjoyed Hudson Hawk like that...

 

[Dr Doran]

May I suggest to put a spoiler warning to the thread title?

Fair request. Accomplished. Thank you.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

It's a 1980s take of a 1930s vision of the (ugly) future.

Sort of. I spoke with Terry Gilliam about it at "Brazil"s sneak preview at Berkeley in '85. Terry explained that "Brazil" is meant to look as if it takes place in a kind of 1948 Britain, since the "84" in "1984" is "48" reversed (and yes, George Orwell wrote "1984" in 1948).


I asked Terry about the menswear: he said that nearly all the men's clothing was vintage, practically all of it CC41 (wartime), which many Britons were still wearing in 1948. The famous "shoe hat" was copied from a 1938 original by Elsa Schiaparelli, in collaboration with Salvador Dali.


Hope this clarifies Gilliam's intention for the film.

.

 

[Dr Doran]

Sort of. I spoke with Terry Gilliam about it at "Brazil"s sneak preview at Berkeley in '85. Terry explained that "Brazil" is meant to look as if it takes place in a kind of 1948 Britain, since the "84" in "1984" is "48" reversed (and yes, George Orwell wrote "1984" in 1948).


I asked Terry about the menswear: he said that nearly all the men's clothing was vintage, practically all of it CC41 (wartime), which many Britons were still wearing in 1948. The famous "shoe hat" was copied from a 1938 original by Elsa Schiaparelli, in collaboration with Salvador Dali.


Hope this clarifies Gilliam's intention for the film.

.

Ehhhhhhh .... close enough.

 

[Dr Doran]

.
Es vos stultus?

[/COLOR]

Technically that should be estis vos or es tu, not es vos.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Technically that should be estis vos or es tu, not es vos.

Ehhhhhhh .... close enough.

.