Love, totalitarianism, and the dangers of cosmetic surgery are only some of the themes tackled in Terry Gilliam's wondrous, yet incredibly wacky epic Brazil. For starters, the film's basic focus is spot-on, in which any form of society run by humans will ultimately falter due to inherent imperfections in our genetics. For finishers, any film that invokes a plethora of themes linking it to various Greek tragedies while looking this good is worth praising. The fact that the entire plot can foreshadow the ending without giving it away is also brilliant.

Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a low-level worker for the Ministry of Information, leads a life full of stress. Sam's mother, Mrs. Ida Lowry (Katherine Helmond), is a high woman with enough connections to catapult Sam to the top of his profession, which has been her intention all along. The problem is Sam doesn't want any of it. Stuck in a superficial, outrageously mundane futuristic world, Sam tires of the constant buggery and obstruction, of every day life. He dreams to fly free in the country with the love of his life, a nameless gallant blonde (Kim Greist) floating elegantly amongst the clouds. When Sam discovers Jill Layton, a stubborn, self-sufficient rebel to the government who holds a startling likeness to his dream girl, he'll risk everything and anything to get her, even if it means befriending a renegade heating engineer (Robert De Niro) wanted by the Ministry for illegal heat repairs.

For films that carry a premise as grand as Brazil, success relies heavily on genre bending, which happens to be one of Brazil’s strengths. Much of the film is densely soaked in black comedy, but the deft elements of romance, action, fantasy and drama that Gilliam employs in Brazil are quite brilliant. There are a few areas where the glut of genres is stretched thin, such as the questionable chemistry between Sam and Jill, but the totality of the story outweighs the minor imperfections. It becomes even more rewarding to witness Brazil, since the audience fluctuates between loving and hating the film as each scene unfolds. On one hand, it’s a staggering amount to absorb within the allotted running time, but on the other hand, it all comes together so perfectly in the ending, that it’s more than worth the exhausting journey.

Technically, Brazil dominates, especially when the release year is taken into account (1985). True, to the present day eye, the futuristic gadgets in Brazil may seem a bit off, especially since the film targets an age around where we are right now. The beauty of it, however, is the absurdity of Gilliam’s future plays right into the whimsical mood of the film. I personally feel Gilliam wanted his dystopian future of Brazil to be outlandish to cater to the audience’s emotions better. The sheer unprofessional manner of everything, from workers of the Ministry spending the majority of their day watching films, to the roundabout red tape and bureaucracy involved in every daily task, paints the lessons Brazil teaches in a firm, yet fun manner.

And for a comedy, Brazil is still morally complex. Embedded within all the preposterous scenes of Tuttle repelling off a God-knows-how-many-story building into oblivion and lavish businesses adorned with bandaged post-op women are startling messages to the audience about the direction of society. When gruesome terrorist explosions are covered up by diligent workers in order to maintain a positive rapport with customers, it’s supposed to be funny, but it’s also proving a point.  Gilliam pulls no punches with Brazil, which at the basest level, is as dystopian as films come. Crude, direct metaphors litter the film, such as an industrial park painted pastel colors in perfect symmetry dwarfed by a curious bum. The camera pans out to reveal the park was merely a model in the streets, but the point is conveyed by then. 

Though its message is by far Brazil's strongest point, the accompaniments are superb. Jonathan Pryce is just as convincing as the frustrated, vacuous every-day Sam as he is dressed in a winged metal suit flying across the sky. Ian Holm is brilliant as Sam’s initial boss, and the cameos of De Niro and Bob Hoskins as somewhat rivals are fantastic. The soundtrack may recycle, but there is much to gain from the peppy tune that exudes happiness and a carefree lifestyle, especially when it’s used as a contrast. The set design is fantastic. It takes a skilled director to create a good film, but it takes a certain type of talent to deliver an expansive imagination to the screen in the way Gilliam does.

There is just too much about Brazil to praise. Seriously. Brazil is definitely a film that stays with its audience after it’s over. The experience is way too much to absorb and throw away from one mere viewing. There are too many issues to say Brazil is a perfect film, but sometimes perfection is out of the question. In this case, it’s most likely impossible to hit on that many cylinders without problems, and even if somehow it happened, the audience would be too fried to even walk out of the theater.