Brazil: Criterion Collection - The Director’s Cut (1985)

Details: By Loron Hays; 05 February 2015

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brazil - Blu-ray Review

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A soulless and very much psychotic totalitarian government gets a proper “F--- You” in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Named after a song from 1939 (“Aquarela do Brasil”) that’s often heard playing in the background or hummed by its lead character, Gilliam’s movie is possibly more accurately described as a science-fiction fantasy of escape into (and out of) a world that can’t possibly exist.

We hope.

The truth is that we seem to be far closer to the type of scenario presented in Brazil than it would initially appear. Originally released in 1985, the masterpiece remains – as evidenced by Criterion’s newly restored high-definition digital transfer of Gilliam’s 142-minute director’s cut - frightening, hysterical, and downright controversial as it depicts just how paradoxical our concept of valuing human life really is, regardless of our politics and our positions. Just watch the news if you doubt me.

With Brazil, Gilliam ushers viewers into a dystopian world somehow trapped in 1940s fashion styles where its citizens are grabbed, tortured and killed without even so much as a trial. There is, in fact, no legal system and people – regardless if they are on the side of the Ministry of Information or acting as terrorists bombing against it – don’t seem to mind one bit. Violence, almost nonsensical by design, wins out every single day. Hmm.

Brazil’s everyman lead character, Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is officious, bureaucratic and utterly indifferent in his low-level job with the government. He does; however, spend far too much time daydreaming about rescuing a fair-haired damsel in distress. He is simply waiting for the day he actually awakens. It’s when he meets his daydreamed damsel, Jill Layton (Kim Greist), on assignment – after an insect-originated error in his paperwork results in the death of a cobbler named Buttle instead of Archibald Tuttle (Robert De Nero), an engineer suspected of terrorism - that things really become interesting.

With Tuttle’s help, Sam and Jill attempt their great escape from the Ministry of Information (who would rather kill all involved than admit their “sweepstakes” mistake) and outsmart two Central Services workers, Spoor (Bob Hoskins) and Dowser (Derrick O'Connor). Inside the folds and fabrics of Brazil, though, all is not as it seems and true escape remains just outside of reach.

Gilliam, the behind-the-camera graduate of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the comedy troupe’s go-to film director, tackles the unpleasant and suffocating world within Brazil with visionary wit and classic subversion. This film. 30-years later, is an inarguable classic of the science fiction and fantasy genre. Amidst all the bleak surroundings of a landscape that once formed Britain’s industrial age, it is easy to overlook just how often funny the film is. His piercing observations about man and government are keen and his use of Python-esque humor nails this Orwellian-inspired futurescape.

Bolstered by a rather unpleasant struggle for domestic release, the director’s cut of Brazil is a significant release for Criterion. No longer are our “virgin” American eyes “protected” by Universal’s thinking that the original movie’s resolution is too dark for American audiences. We get two versions instead. Gilliam’s approved version and the “happier” Universal-approved version. As documented in one of supplemental items, Gilliam wrote a letter to Universal’s studio chairman Sid Sheinberg and had this to say about their reluctance to release his version in theatres, “I am not sure you are aware of just how much pain you are inflicting, but I don’t believe ‘responsibility to the company’ in any way absolves you from crimes against even this small branch of humanity. As long as my name is on the film, what is done to it is done to me — there is no way of separating these two entities. I feel every cut, especially the ones that sever the balls.”

Gilliam, often a victim of studio interference, is finally vindicated with Criterion’s release because, you see, 142-minutes of a unique vision > 96 minutes and a crappy ending. Deal with it, Universal.

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MPAA Rating: R for some strong violence
Runtime: 132 mins
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writer: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro
Genre: Sci-fi
Tagline: It's about flights of fantasy. And the nightmare of reality. Terrorist bombings. And late night shopping. True Love. And creative plumbing.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us."
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: December 18, 1985
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: December 4, 2012
Synopsis: A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.

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brazil - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - December 4, 2012
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region Encoding: Locked to region A

The newly restored high-definition digital transfer of Terry Gilliam’s 142-minute director’s cut, approved by Gilliam, with DTS-HD Master Audio surround soundtrack is unique solely to the Blu-ray edition of Criterion’s release. The transfer is presented in 1080p. This looks to be the same high-definition transfer used for Criterion’s 2006 reissue DVD of the film, which offered a substantial improvement itself over Criterion’s original DVD. Here, though, we get a considerably sharper image delivering the fine details of the film’s elaborate production design far clearer than before. Though the image can come off a bit distorted in places, or soft, because of the stylistic choices of the director, the image is quite crisp throughout with clean edges. Film grain is present with exceptional execution, and the transfer doesn’t seem to present any glaring artifacts that mar the image. Some of the effect shots present some obvious dirt and grit but source materials look to be in tremendous shape with very little damage otherwise. This is definitely the most film-like presentation I’ve ever seen of this masterpiece. The disc comes with 2.0 DTS-HD MA surround track. Michael Kamen’s incredible score sounds vivid and alive, spreading between the speakers wonderfully. There’s some fantastic range and depth to it, with stunning clarity. It’s the best I’ve yet heard the score.

Supplements:

Commentary:

The first disc's extra is an audio commentary by Terry Gilliam recorded for the original Laserdisc edition in 1996. The director, wired up as usual, talks in great detail about his development of the film from story to screen, covering all of the ideas he had including what ultimately didn’t make it. He recalls various anecdotes about the production, how he was able to get certain actors into the film (specifically De Niro) and talks about how the film has grown with audiences.

Special Features:

Beginning with Rob Hedden’s on-set documentary and containing the feature-length documentary about the film’s contentious release, hosted by Jack Mathews and based on his book of the same name, this release is a solid offering of supplemental material that adds great and impactful material to the original film. We get the studio’s 94-minute, happy-ending cut of Brazil, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan. An illustrated booklet with two essays rounds out the release. While it is true that some material hasn’t been carried over from the DVD, with the lack of information on the various drafts of the script probably being the most noticeable, Criterion has done a good job gathering the material for this release.