A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 9 wins & 6 nominations total
Featured review
One of my favorite novels of all time is George Orwell's 1984, and Brazil is very much a comedic interpretation of that. Brazil shows us a hilarious exaggeration of the monotony of machine like run bureaucracy, and man's constant voyage to avoid responsibility. "That's not my department." Everyone seems to say. Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is a low ranking government employee. When an error leads to the execution of engineer Archibald Buttle (Brian Miller) instead of terrorist Archibald Tuttle (Robert De Niro), Sam attempts to fix this, and inadvertently becomes an enemy of the state. Read that scenario again. This is a funny movie. It's a dark comedy/political satire, and almost every joke works. The nonchalant attitude of the government depicted in the film is where a big chunk of the humor comes from. It's a very smart comedy. Honestly if you like political satire, then Brazil is one we can all enjoy together.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRobert De Niro wanted to play the role of Jack Lint, but Terry Gilliam had already promised this to Sir Michael Palin. De Niro still wanted to be in this movie, so he was cast as Harry Tuttle instead.
- GoofsWhen Harry Tuttle escapes from Sam Lowry's flat, he is wearing a hood covering his head. When Harry starts to zip-line off the precipice, he is replaced by a stunt double wearing a baseball cap.
- Quotes
Jill Layton: Care for a little necrophilia? Hmmm?
- Crazy creditsThe only credits at the start of the film were the preliminary studio credits, a credit for Gilliam, and the title. All other credits are at the end. (Although commonplace today, the lack of full opening credits was still unusual in 1985). All versions of the film, including the "Love Conquers All" edit follow this format.
- Alternate versionsThere are at least three different versions of Brazil. The original 142 minutes European release, a shorter 132-minutes prepared by Gilliam for the American release and another different version, nicknamed the Sheinberg Edit or 'Love Conquers All' version, from Universal's then boss Sid Sheinberg, against whom Terry Gilliam had to fight to have his version released.
- ConnectionsFeatured in What Is Brazil? (1985)
- SoundtracksHava Nagila
(played after the restaurant bombing)
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $9,929,135
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $30,099
- Dec 22, 1985
- Gross worldwide
- $9,951,647
- Runtime2 hours 12 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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