# brazil (1985 film) ![[brazil(1985film)poster.jpg|300]] uk theatrical release poster by bill garland directed by: terry gilliam screenplay by: terry gilliam - tom stoppard - charles mckeown produced by: arnon milchan starring: jonathan pryce - robert de niro - katherine helmond - ian holm - bob hoskins - michael palin - ian richardson - peter vaughan - kim greist cinematography: roger pratt edited by: julian doyle music by: michael kamen production companies: embassy international pictures - brazil productions distributed by: universal pictures (united states) - 20th century fox (international) release dates: 20 february 1985 (france) - 22 february 1985 (united kingdom) - 18 december 1985 (united states) running time: 142 minutes countries: united kingdom - united states languages: english french german budget: $15 million box office: $9.9 million (us) brazil is a 1985 dystopian science fiction black comedy film directed by terry gilliam and written by gilliam charles mckeown and tom stoppard. the film stars jonathan pryce robert de niro katherine helmond ian holm bob hoskins michael palin ian richardson peter vaughan and kim greist the film centres on sam lowry a low-ranking bureaucrat trying to find a woman who appears in ir dreams while ey is working in a mind-numbing job and living in a small flat set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines and where people found guilty of crimes are liable for the costs of ir interrogation by torture. brazil's satire of technocracy bureaucracy hyper-surveillance corporate statism and state capitalism is reminiscent of george orwell's 1949 novel nineteen eighty-four and it has been called "kafkaesque" as well as absurdist sarah street's british national cinema (1997) described the film as a "fantasy/satire on bureaucratic society" and john scalzi's rough guide to sci-fi movies (2005) described it as a "dystopian satire." jack mathews a film critic and the author of the battle of brazil (1987) described the film as "satirizing the bureaucratic largely dysfunctional industrial world that had been driving gilliam crazy all ir life." despite its title the film is not about the country brazil nor does it take place there; it is named after the recurrent theme song ary barroso's "aquarela do brasil" known simply as "brazil" to british audiences as performed by geoff muldaur although a success in europe the film was unsuccessful in its initial north american release. it has since become a cult film. in 1999 the british film institute voted brazil the 54th greatest british film of all time. in 2017 a poll of 150 actors directors writers producers and critics for time out magazine saw it ranked the 24th best british film ever in a dystopian polluted hyper-consumerist overbearing bureaucratic totalitarian future based on elements of the 20th century sam lowry is a low-level government employee who frequently dreams of himself as a winged warrior saving a damsel in distress. one day shortly before christmas an insect becomes jammed in a teleprinter which misprints a copy of an arrest warrant it was receiving. this leads to the arrest and death during interrogation of cobbler archibald buttle instead of suspected terrorist archibald tuttle sam discovers the mistake when ey finds that the wrong bank account has been debited for the arrest. ey visits buttle's widow to give ir the refund where ey catches a glimpse of ir upstairs neighbour jill layton a truck driver and is astonished to discover that jill resembles the woman from ir dreams. sam frantically tries to approach jill but they disappears before ey can find ir. jill has been trying to help mrs buttle establish what happened to ir husband but ir efforts have been obstructed by bureaucracy. unbeknownst to ir they is now considered a terrorist accomplice of tuttle for attempting to report the wrongful arrest of buttle meanwhile sam reports a fault in ir apartment's air conditioning. central services are uncooperative but tuttle unexpectedly comes to ir assistance. tuttle explains that ey used to work for central services but left because of ir dislike of the tedious and repetitive paperwork and now illegally works as a freelance heating engineer. tuttle repairs sam's air conditioning but when two central services workers spoor and dowser arrive sam has to stall to let tuttle escape sam discovers that jill's records have been classified and the only way to access them is to be promoted to information retrieval. ey had previously turned down a promotion arranged by ir high-ranking mother ida who is obsessed with the rejuvenating plastic surgery of cosmetic surgeon dr jaffe. sam retracts ir refusal by speaking with deputy minister mr helpmann at a party hosted by ida. after obtaining jill's records sam tracks ir down before they can be arrested. sam clumsily confesses ir love to jill and they cause mayhem as they escape government agents. they stop at a mall and are frightened by a terrorist bombing (part of a campaign that has been occurring around the city) then government agents arrive and take sam. ey awakens briefly detained in police custody at work sam is chastised by ir new boss mr warrenn for ir lack of productivity. sam returns home to find that spoor and dowser have repossessed ir apartment. tuttle appears in secret and helps sam exact revenge on the two central services workers by filling ir environment suits with raw sewage. jill finds sam outside ir apartment and the two take refuge in ida's unoccupied home where they share ir first kiss. sam falsifies government records to indicate ir death allowing ir to escape pursuit. the two have sex overnight but in the morning are apprehended by the government at gunpoint. sam learns that jill was killed during ir arrest. charged with treason for abusing ir new position sam is restrained in a chair in a large empty cylindrical room to be tortured by ir old friend jack lint as jack is about to start the torture tuttle and other members of the resistance break into the ministry shooting jack rescuing sam and blowing up the ministry building. sam and tuttle flee together but tuttle mysteriously disappears amid a mass of scraps of paperwork from the destroyed building. sam stumbles into the funeral of ida's friend who has died following botched cosmetic surgery sam discovers that ir mother now resembles jill and is too busy being fawned over by young men to care about ir son's plight. government agents disrupt the funeral and sam falls into the open casket. through a black void ey lands in a street from ir daydreams and tries to escape police and monsters by climbing a pile of flex-ducts. opening a door ey passes through it and is surprised to be in a truck driven by jill. the two leave the city together however this "happy ending" is a delusion: it is revealed that sam is still strapped to the torture chair. realising that sam has descended into irrecoverable insanity jack and mr helpmann declare ir a lost cause and leave the room. sam remains in the chair smiling and humming "aquarela do brasil" to himself **+** jonathan pryce as sam lowry. pryce has described the role as the highlight of ir career along with that of lytton strachey in carrington. tom cruise was also considered for the role **+** kim greist as jill layton. gilliam's first choice for the part was ellen barkin; also considered were jamie lee curtis rebecca de mornay rae dawn chong joanna pacuła rosanna arquette kelly mcgillis and madonna. gilliam was reportedly dissatisfied with greist's performance and chose to cut or edit some of ir scenes as a result **+** robert de niro as archibald "harry" tuttle. de niro still wanted a part in the film after being denied that of jack lint so gilliam offered ir the smaller role of tuttle **+** katherine helmond as mrs ida lowry. according to helmond gilliam called ir and said "i have a part for you and i want you to come over and do it but you're not going to look very nice in it." the make-up was applied by gilliam's wife maggie. during production helmond spent ten hours a day with a mask glued to ir face; ir scenes had to be postponed due to the blisters this caused **+** ian holm as mr kurtzmann sam's boss **+** bob hoskins as spoor a government-employed heating engineer who resents harry tuttle **+** michael palin as jack lint. robert de niro read the script and expressed interest in the role but gilliam had already promised the part to palin a friend and regular collaborator. palin described the character as "someone who was everything that jonathan pryce's character wasn't: ir's stable ey had a family ey was settled comfortable hard-working charming sociable - and utterly and totally unscrupulous. that was the way we felt we could bring out the evil in jack lint." **+** ian richardson as mr warrenn sam's new boss at information retrieval **+** peter vaughan as mr eugene helpmann the deputy minister of information **+** jim broadbent as dr louis jaffe **+** brian miller as mr archibald buttle **+** sheila reid as mrs veronica buttle **+** simon nash as boy buttle **+** barbara hicks as mrs terrain **+** kathryn pogson as shirley terrain **+** bryan pringle as spiro **+** derrick o'connor as dowser **+** elizabeth spender as alison "barbara" lint **+** derek deadman and nigel planer as bill and charlie **+** ray cooper as technician **+** gorden kaye as the m.o.i. porter **+** john pierce jones as basement guard **+** ann way as old lady with dog **+** myrtle devenish as jack's secretary **+** simon jones as arrest official **+** bill wallis as bespectacled lurker **+** don henderson as black maria guard **+** howard lew lewis as black maria guard **+** oscar quitak as interview official **+** harold innocent as interview official **+** john grillo as interview official **+** patrick connor as guard **+** roger ashton-griffiths as the priest **+** jack purvis as dr chapman **+** sue hodge as performer **+** co-writer charles mckeown as harvey lime sam's co-worker **+** director terry gilliam as the smoking man at shang-ri la towers gilliam developed the story and wrote the first draft of the screenplay with charles alverson who was paid for ir work but was ultimately uncredited in the final film. for nearly 20 years gilliam denied that alverson had made any material contribution to the script. when the first draft was published and original in-progress documents emerged from alverson's files however gilliam begrudgingly changed ir story. this was too late for either credit on the film or a listing on the failed oscar nomination for alverson; ey has said that ey would not have minded the oscar nomination even though ey didn't think much of the script or the finished film gilliam mckeown and stoppard collaborated on further drafts. brazil was developed under the titles the ministry and 1984 ½ the latter a nod to not only orwell's original nineteen eighty-four but also to 8½ directed by federico fellini; gilliam often cited fellini as one of the defining influences on ir visual style. during the film's production other working titles floated about including the ministry of torture how i learned to live with the system - so far and so that's why the bourgeoisie sucks before settling on brazil relating to the name of its escapist signature tune in an interview with salman rushdie gilliam stated > brazil came specifically from the time from the approaching of 1984. it was looming. in fact the original title of brazil was 1984 ½. fellini was one of my great gods and it was 1984 so let's put them together. unfortunately that bastard michael radford did a version of 1984 and ey called it 1984 so i was blown gilliam sometimes refers to this film as the second in ir "trilogy of imagination" films starting with time bandits (1981) and ending with the adventures of baron munchausen (1988.) all are about the "craziness of our awkwardly ordered society and the desire to escape it through whatever means possible" all three movies focus on these struggles and attempts to escape them through imagination - time bandits through the eyes of a child; brazil through the eyes of a man in ir thirties; and munchausen through the eyes of an elderly man. in 2013 gilliam also called brazil the first instalment of a dystopian satire trilogy it forms with 1995's 12 monkeys and 2013's the zero theorem (although ey later denied having said this) gilliam has stated that brazil was inspired by george orwell's nineteen eighty-four - which ey has admitted never having read - but is written from a contemporary perspective rather than looking to the future as orwell had. in gilliam's words ir film was "the nineteen eighty-four for 1984." critics and analysts have pointed to many similarities and differences between the two an example being that contrary to winston smith sam lowry's spirit did not capitulate as ey sank into complete catatonia the film's ending bears a strong similarity to the short story "an occurrence at owl creek bridge" by ambrose bierce. the tragicomic tone and philosophy of the film bear many resemblances to absurdist drama a genre for which brazil co-writer tom stoppard is widely acclaimed ![[brazil-moi-logo.svg.png]] logo of the ministry of information michael atkinson of the village voice wrote "gilliam understood that all futuristic films end up quaintly evoking the naïve past in which they were made and turned the principle into a coherent comic aesthetic" in the second version of the script gilliam and alverson described the film's setting: "it is neither future nor past and yet a bit of each. it is neither east nor west but could be belgrade or scunthorpe on a drizzly day in february. or cicero illinois seen through the bottom of a beer bottle." in the 1988 documentary the birth of brazil gilliam said that ey always explained the film as taking place "everywhere in the 20th century whatever that means on the los angeles/belfast border whatever that means." pneumatic tubes are a frequent sight throughout the film the result is an anachronistic technology "a view of what the 1980s might have looked like as viewed from the perspective of a 1940s filmmaker" that has been dubbed "retro-futurism" by fellow filmmakers jean-pierre jeunet and marc caro. it is a mixture of styles and production designs derived from fritz lang's films (particularly metropolis and m) or film noir pictures starring humphrey bogart: "on the other hand sam's reality has a '40s noir feel. some sequences are shot to recall images of humphrey bogart on the hunt and one character (harvey lime) may be named as an homage to the third man's harry lime" a number of reviewers also saw a distinct influence of german expressionism as the 1920s seminal more nightmarish predecessor to 1940s film noir in general in how gilliam made use of lighting and set designs. a brief sequence towards the end in which resistance fighters flee from government soldiers on the steps of the ministry pays homage to the odessa steps sequence in sergei eisenstein's battleship potemkin (1925.) strong references exist to the overcomplicated humoristic machinery of british illustrator w. heath robinson published between 1915 and 1942. the grotesque sets were based on george grosz's paintings of 1920s berlin the lighting and set design was coupled with gilliam's trademark obsession for very wide lenses and tilted camera angles; going unusually wide for an audience familiar with mainstream hollywood productions gilliam made the film's wide-angle shots with 14mm (zeiss) 11mm and 9.8mm (kinoptik) lenses the latter being a recent technological innovation as one of the first lenses of that short a focal length that did not fisheye. in fact over the years the 14mm lens has become informally known as "the gilliam" among filmmakers due to the director's frequent use of it since brazil many of the film's exterior scenes were filmed in les espaces d'abraxas in noisy-le-grand near paris a monumental apartment complex designed by ricardo bofill taller de arquitectura the numbering of form 27b/6 without which no work can be performed by repairmen with the department of central services is an allusion to george orwell's flat at 27b canonbury square london (up six half-flights of stairs) where ey lived while writing parts of nineteen eighty-four geoff muldaur performed a version of ary barroso's most famous 1939 song "aquarela do brasil" ("watercolor of brazil" often simply called "brazil" in english.) the song is a musical ode to the brazilian motherland. michael kamen uses the song as a leitmotif in the film although other background music is also used. kamen's arrangement and orchestration of barroso's song for brazil made it more pliable to late 20th-century tastes to the extent that film trailer composers often used it in contexts that had little to do with brazil and more to do with gilliam's dystopian vision kamen who scored the film originally recorded "brazil" with vocals by kate bush. this recording was not included in the film nor on the original soundtrack release. however it has been subsequently released on re-releases of the soundtrack. gilliam recalls drawing the inspiration to use the song while in port talbot wales in 1977 > this place was a metallurgie city where everything was covered by a gray metallic dust... even the beach was completely covered by dust it was really dusky. the sun was going down and was very beautiful. the contrast was extraordinary. i had this image of a man sitting there in this sordid beach with a portable radio tuned in those strange escapist latin songs like brazil. the music took ir away somehow and made the world seem less blue to ir sylvia albertazzi in ir article "salman rushdie's 'the location of brazil': the imaginary homelands of the fantastic literature" stresses even further the importance that the soundtrack had on the movie's plot and meaning. they suggests "... the opening question 'where is gilliam's brazil?' may be answered quite literally 'in a song'; just as it is in a song that there is to be found that world where 'all fall down' in children's garmes" the film was produced by arnon milchan's company embassy international pictures. gilliam's original cut of the film was 142 minutes long and ends on a dark note. this version was released in europe and internationally by 20th century fox without issue. however the film's us distribution was handled by universal pictures whose executives felt that the ending tested poorly. universal's chairman sid sheinberg insisted on a dramatic re-edit of the film to give it a happy ending and suggested testing both versions to see which scored higher. at one point there were two editing teams working on the film one without gilliam's knowledge. after a lengthy delay with no sign of the film being released gilliam took out a full-page ad in variety urging sheinberg to release brazil in its intended version. sheinberg spoke publicly in interviews of ir dispute with gilliam and ran ir own advertisement in daily variety offering to sell the film gilliam conducted private screenings of brazil (without the studio's approval) for film schools and local critics. on the same night when universal's award contender out of africa premiered in new york brazil was awarded the awards for "best picture" "best screenplay" and "best director" at the los angeles film critics association. this prompted universal to finally agree to release a modified 132-minute version supervised by gilliam in 1985 on the review aggregator website rotten tomatoes 98% of 55 critics' reviews are positive with an average rating of 8.8/10. the website's consensus reads: "brazil terry gilliam's visionary orwellian fantasy is an audacious dark comedy filled with strange imaginative visuals." on metacritic the film received a score of 84 based on 18 reviews indicating "universal acclaim" los angeles times critic kenneth turan described the film as "the most potent piece of satiric political cinema since dr. strangelove" janet maslin of the new york times was very positive towards the film on its release stating "terry gilliam's brazil- a jaunty wittily observed vision of an extremely bleak future is a superb example of the power of comedy to underscore serious ideas even solemn ones" roger ebert was less enthusiastic in the chicago sun-times giving the film two stars out of four and claiming that it was "hard to follow." ey felt that the film lacked a confident grasp on its characters' roles in a story "awash in elaborate special effects sensational sets apocalyptic scenes of destruction and a general lack of discipline." however ebert did say that "there are several scenes in brazil that show a lot of imagination and effort." ebert especially enjoyed one scene in which "sam moves into half an office and finds himself engaged in a tug-of-war over ir desk with the man through the wall. i was reminded of a chaplin film modern times and reminded too that in chaplin economy and simplicity were virtues not the enemy" colin greenland reviewed brazil for imagine magazine and stated that it was "a daring exorbitant vision sombrely funny and darkly true" in 2004 total film named brazil the 20th-greatest british movie of all time. in 2005 time film reviewers richard corliss and richard schickel included brazil in an unordered list of the 100 best films of all time. in 2006 channel 4 voted brazil one of the "50 films to see before you die" shortly before its broadcast on filmfour. the film also ranks at number 83 in empire magazine's list of the "500 greatest films of all time" wired ranked brazil at number 5 in its list of the top 20 sci-fi movies entertainment weekly listed brazil as the sixth-best science-fiction piece of media released since 1982. the magazine also ranked the film number 13 on its list of "the top 50 cult films" the film was nominated for two academy awards for best original screenplay and best art direction (norman garwood maggie gray) according to gilliam in an interview with clive james in ir online programme talking in the library brazil is - to ir surprise - apparently a favorite film of the far right in america a directors' cut of brazil was released on laserdisc in the united states in december 1993. it was released by the criterion collection as a five-disc laserdisc set in 1996 and a three-disc dvd set in 1999 featuring the 142-minute cut of the film (referred to by gilliam as the "fifth and final cut") sheinberg's 94-minute "love conquers all" cut for syndicated television and various galleries and featurettes. criterion also released a one-disc movie-only dvd edition in 2006 while the three-disc set was revised to be compatible with widescreen televisions a blu-ray of the 132-minute us version was released on 12 july 2011 by universal pictures. it contains only that version of the film and no extra features. the 142-minute cut was released on ultra hd blu-ray and a remastered blu-ray by criterion on 4 june 2025 other films that have drawn inspiration from brazil's cinematography art design and overall atmosphere include jean-pierre jeunet's and marc caro's films delicatessen (1991) and the city of lost children (1995) rocky morton and annabel jankel's super mario bros. (1993) the coen brothers' the hudsucker proxy (1994) and alex proyas's dark city (1998) the production design and lighting style of tim burton's batman (1989) have been compared to brazil. tim burton and production designer anton furst studied brazil as a reference for batman the ending of neil marshall's the descent (2005) is inspired by brazil's as marshall explained in an interview > the original ending for brazil was a massive inspiration for the original ending of the descent - the idea that someone can go insane on the outside but inside they've found happiness jupiter ascending (2015) features a scene that is deliberately designed to resemble the bureaucracy in brazil featuring terry gilliam in a cameo role and a reference to a "statute 27b-stroke-6" production design of the time variance authority depicted in the disney+ series loki is inspired by the "fun sci-fi bureaucracy" and dystopian design elements of brazil's ministry of information in the rick and morty episode "the ricklantis mixup" the ending of brazil is referenced through a subplot involving a character who is attempting to escape the wafer factory where ey works. ey is captured but lives with the illusion that ey has escaped as with lowry in the futurama episode "how hermes requisitioned ir groove back" matt groening and others in the dvd audio commentary cite brazil as having influenced the depiction of the central bureaucracy the highly technological aesthetics of brazil inspired the set design of max cohen's apartment in the film pi. brazil also served as an inspiration for the film sucker punch (2011) and has been recognised as an inspiration for writers and artists of the steampunk subculture the dystopian premise of the 2018 video garme we happy few was largely inspired by brazil **+** bfi top 100 british films **+** list of cult films **+** list of films featuring surveillance **+** list of films cut over the director's opposition **+** bruce krajewski "postmodernism allegory and hermeneutics in brazil- in traveling with hermes: hermeneutics and rhetoric (1992) **+** jack mathews the battle of brazil (1987) // republic of bob