I Don't Understand The Fuss Over The Movie 'Brazil'

[THUNDER HANDS]

I just watched V For Vendetta yesterday, thought it was marvelous.

So I had rented 'Brazil' from Netflix a few days ago, but just got around the watching it now.

My god, what an awful movie. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. It was painful. I actually almost took a nap.

And I never take naps - nor have trouble sitting through movies, I usually like almost anything.

But oy vey, this was just horrid. Did the movie even have a point?

[TheBaldyMan]

1. the crushing of the human spirit under totalitarianism

what did you expect - a happy ending ?

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. i didn't even get to the ending

the beginning and middle bored the hell out of me. What makes this movie so good everyone's eyes? What did I miss?

[NashVegas]

3. I'm Sorry You Missed It

If nothing else, it's a great cautionary tale for what happens when you wake up from your dreams just a little too late to change your reality.

[TheBaldyMan]

4. I'm British, so I picked up on the bureaucratic nightmare immediately

this film was made during the darkest days of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, it is the epitome of proto-neocon mean spiritedness made celluloid.

Do you remember the eighties at all ? That decade was a foretaste of how bad things were going to get today. In fact Brazil is more relevant to life in Britain in the 21st century than it was in the 80's because now the technology, faulty and dysfunctional as in the film, is being deployed today. Go to the UK forum and read some of the posts - maybe that will help your understanding.

[Hissyspit]

6. Well, the ending was kind of like REALLY IMPORTANT

to understanding the movie as a whole.

Also, you have to make sure you are watching Gilliam's true ending and not the ending tacked on and edited by the studio. That was a BIG controversy at the time. They actually completely changed the ending and the movie then meant something else than what it was originally intended to mean.

One reason the movie's impact may seem less nowadays is that it has been much copied, emulated and ripped off.

[tigereye]

5. it was frighteningly prescient when it came out

also if you are a Terry Gilliam fan - his movies are usually quite unique. Like Blade Runner, I think the look of Brazil has been copied so much for videos and commercials that it has lost some of it's creepy effect visually.

But the point is pretty clear if you have read 1984 or know anything about fascism.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. You probably snagged the Remade For The USA Wimps version

The REAL version is fantastic- I did a review of it in GD not long ago which some good replies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=622305