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.
3 comments:
I saw "Brazil" when it came out in the theater. I will admit I was utterly bewildered by it. That's OK ... I was utterly bewildered the first time I saw "A Clockwork Orange" and I now see nothing but genius in that film.
But I was younger and much stupider back then, and I didn't get "Brazil".
A friend of mine (his name was Dan but we called him "Battery" because he always had so much acid in him) asked me what I thought of the movie.
"I'll confess a lot of it must have gone over my head," I said.
"Did you see it stoned?" he asked.
"Uh ... no," I admitted.
"DUDE!! You've GOT to see 'Brazil' when you're STONED, man!! It's so much BETTER that way!"
"I imagine that would improve any movie," I replied.
But at least I said "It must have gone over my head." That was a clue ... I didn't love "Brazil" but I realize the fault was mine. Normally, when something doesn't come up to the old aesthetic scratch line, I blame the movie: "Wow ... THAT sucked! What a bomb!!"
I need to sit down and give this movie another chance. You characterize the society in "Brazil" as a "Mind-numbing bureaucracy," and maybe that's part of the problem. I was in the ARMY, at the time, so maybe the bureaucracy was looking pretty tame.
nice one...one of the things that impressed me about this was the attention to detail, the weird machines everywhere, the posters etc.
nice one...one of the things that impressed me about this was the attention to detail, the weird machines everywhere, the posters etc.
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