BRAZIL (1985) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Terry Gilliam

Written by - Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown

Starring - Jonathan Pryce, Bob Hoskins, Robert De Niro

"A daydreaming bureaucrat in a futuristic world tries to fix an administrative error and finds himself an enemy of the state. 

An audacious dark comedy, where the satire on the bureaucratic system and examinations of an oppressed working class naturally influences a Kafkaesque - and Orwellian - type of science fiction and futuristic eclectic vision. 

BRAZIL is both compelling in its portrayal of themes and a remarkable, vivid and exciting futuristic style where even its particular are overflowing with creativity, from an inventive and original art direction, which draws as much inspiration from the past as it does in entertaining visions of the future, to the unusual choice of sweet sounding oldies as charming punctuation. 

It is also arguably the definitive work of TERRY GILLIAM, whose imagination is never questions but sometimes prone to excesses. Here, however, it remains quite balanced and due to its essentially cohesive nature, can be admired and celebrated at its most eccentric moments and even as the viewer drifts through some of the most demanding points of its labyrinthine and frantic storyline. 

While the film overflows with inventiveness, the casting is also ingenious, despite at first seeming unusually bizarre. JONATHAN PRYCE suits the bereaucrat's role to perfection, with a portrayal of physical helplessness that recalls the deadpan reactions of some slapstick comedians of old. Likewise, cameos by BOB HOSKINS and ROBERT DE NIRO, the latter in what was then one of his first downright comedic turns, as the leading character's eccentric alter ego, a rebellious heating engineer."

Science Fiction, UK