1985 is better known for small pop culture landmarks than it is for large historical events like Reagan meeting with Gorbachev. We are the World received the best album and best single Grammy, Coca-Cola introduced New Coke, and the top 5 grossing movies were Back to the Future; Rambo: 1st Blood, part 2; Rocky IV; The Color Purple; and Out of Africa. It was also the year I graduated from college. I was about to leave the cocooned security of campus life, filled with discussions of idealism and fantasy, and enter the real world. Maybe that’s why Brazil, a retro-futuristic black comedy about a totalitarian world filled with mind-numbing bureaucracy, appealed so greatly to me. It touched upon my optimistic aspirations and buried fears of what the world might hold for me.
