Have you seen?: Brazil

As Christmas films go, Brazil is probably the strangest. It hails from the bizarre and disturbed mind of former Python turned auteur Terry Gilliam and it is undoubtedly the finest work of his career. This is a film where Christmas shopping and Santa play second fiddle to a phenomenally dark and surreal political satire, featuring a dystopian government heavily reminiscent of 1984, a baby faced torturer (Michael Palin) and creative plumbing. What’s created is an unforgettable if somewhat peculiar masterpiece that constantly surprises, whilst remaining darkly funny, all set during one particularly miserable Christmas.

Following the misadventures of low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), the films tells the story of how he inadvertently becomes an enemy of the state, after meeting the girl of his dreams (literally) whilst trying to solve a bureaucratic error (caused when the government arrests and kills the wrong man under torture). This may sound a little simplistic but it gets a lost stranger with a web of subplots. Michael Palin gives a wonderful performance as Jack, an ambitious family man who just happens to work as a terrifying torturer (he wears a grotesque baby faced masked whilst working, yet still gives a traditional Palin performance as a jolly likeable fellow). However, this is far from all that lurks in the film, it also includes flights of extreme fantasy with, amongst other things, Sam being a kind of strange angel and a giant Samurai Warrior.

This may all appear a little confusing and to some extent, it is. Yet Gilliam’s dark blend of fantasy and reality comes together brilliantly and never lets up. The result is a wonderfully harsh critique of bureaucracy and dictatorship that also works on a deeply human level thanks to wonderful performances from the whole cast and some great direction. What makes the unidentified (yet very British) despotic dictatorship all the more terrifying is not so much its policies or how it attempts to deal with the unseen terrorists, but simply the fact that at no point does the system seem to work at any level. This creates a very different and original landscape, something all too rare in cinema, and may partially explain why (although now a cult classic) it lost money on release.

What we’re left with is a Christmas film named after a recurring tune that uses the holidays only to underscore its already perverse nature. Brazil is a truly unique viewing experience seemingly as fresh now as when it was released a quarter of century ago. Nothing like it has been made before or since and probably never will be. As entertaining as it is fascinating, as both exquisitely imaginative filmmaking and extremely effective political satire - Brazil is a film that demands your attention.

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