Has anyone watched "Brazil" lately?

[Tim Casey]

I know it's political, but it's hard to ignore this. I just watched "Brazil" (the final cut from the three-disc Criterion DVD set) and my kids saw too many parallels to our current political climate. The pictures of the terrorist "detainees" in hoods particularly bothered them. I noticed it, too. I laughed a lot more at this film in the eighties. Now it just makes me very uncomfortable.

I wonder how many other films have aged this way - where current events completely changed the viewer's experience? I know that as a 45-year-old adult, the dialog scenes with the hippies in "Woodstock" play differently to me than they did when I was a teen. But to have a comedy (albeit a dark one) lose its humor is new to me.

[Bobo U2]

I was lucky to find that set for 15.99 at a Coconuts 2 years ago. A good mis-price.

[Jamie Tate]

I have never had a movie's meaning change from viewing to viewing more than this flick. It's a unique piece of film making. I wasn't sure I understood it the first time I saw it and now that I've seen it many times I know I don't understand it. I love this movie. It hasn't lost it's appeal to me yet.

[JohnG]

I also have the 3 disc SE edition. A must own movie if there is one.

[Paul C.]

Can anyone elaborate on how the Criterion disc differs from other versions on disc. Is it a different cut?

[peterC]

Have a look over here Paul:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1851

[vconsumer]

Excellent film! The Criterion set is a must-have if you enjoy this movie. As for the political parallels to today's times, consider how often George Orwell's 1984 is invoked today, then consider that one of the working titles for Brazil was 1984 1/2. Elsewhere Gilliam calls the film a commentary on capitalism American-style.

[pdenny]

Elsewhere Gilliam calls the film a commentary on capitalism American-style.

After seeing LOST IN LA MANCHA, I can understand his crankiness......

[ATR]

Wasn't Reagan president when Brazil was released? Sometimes laughing is all you can do to keep from crying.

[Tim Casey]

Yes, but terrorism (and our country's efforts to deal with it) was so far on the backburner that it didn't register with me at the time. Looking at the fiascos of the past three years, I am amazed at Gilliam's perception. It was as if the movie was made yesterday.

[Captain Groovy]

Yes, I watched this a few months ago - it's the apathy of the people that bothered me the most. It's very disturbing.

Kinda like the opposite of "LA Story" - when the earthquake hits the restaurant and everyone's apathetic, it's funny, but when the terrorists attack the restaurant and no one reacts in "Brazil" it scared the hell out of me. And both are becoming real.

JEFF!

[pdenny]

but when the terrorists attack the restaurant and no one reacts in "Brazil" it scared the hell out of me.

It's not that they didn't react; they were just thinking about how to deal "sensitively" with the terrorists! ;)

[Captain Groovy]

It's not that they didn't react; they were just thinking about how to deal "sensitively" with the terrorists! ;)

Right. And technically they "reacted" in "LA Story" but you know what I meant...

JEFF!

[Michael]

I own the 3 DVD Criterion set and watch it a few times a year...It is what it is...I like the original version, it comes together for me...

[vconsumer]

Looking at the fiascos of the past three years, I am amazed at Gilliam's perception. It was as if the movie was made yesterday.

I think it's in the interview with Gilliam on the third disk of the Criterion collection that he claims there are no terrorists in Brazil, that it's just the technology (ducts) malfunctioning. The one character who is identified as a terrorist, the DeNiro character, actually repairs the technology and isn't really a terrorist at all, but a hero (at least until the paperwork catches up with him).

The film's views on terrorism also come partly from the Orwell novel. Because Oceania is constantly at war, the enemy is always bombing London. There, the "terrorism" is part of the political and social machinery that keeps the citizenry in a constant state of fear and distraction, and the people accept it as a permanent condition of life.

[Paul C.]

thanks... fascinating...