Brazil
1985 · Directed by Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam's dystopian-bureaucracy nightmare where a paperwork clerk dreams of flying and falls for a terrorist. Orwell as slapstick.
Why It's Cult
Brazil is Gilliam's peak — a film Universal hated so much they tried to recut it into something marketable, and Gilliam took out a full-page Variety ad asking if they were going to release his movie. It's absurdist and genuinely bleak, and the final shot is one of the great gut-punches in cinema.
The Plot, Officially
Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is a harried technocrat in a futuristic society that is needlessly convoluted and inefficient. He dreams of a life where he can fly away from technology and overpowering bureaucracy, and spend eternity with the woman of his dreams. While trying to rectify the wrongful arrest of one Harry Buttle (Brian Miller), Lowry meets the woman he is always chasing in his dreams, Jill Layton (Kim Greist). Meanwhile, the bureaucracy has fingered him responsible for a rash of terrorist bombings, and Sam and Jill's lives are put in danger.
Starring
Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
