Analysis of Brazil, Directed by Terry Gilliam

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Analysis of Brazil, Directed by Terry Gilliam

As a child develops into an adult there are critical developmental steps that are necessary for a complete and successful transition. The physical transition is the most obvious change, but underneath the thick skin and amongst the complex systems, exists another layer of transitions. Ideas, rationales, ideologies and beliefs all dwell within this layer of each being. It could be said that a nation can also fit this transitional framework. A nation grows in both size (wealth, population, power), and in ideological maturity (emancipation of slaves, civil rights, women’s rights…etc). This constant evolution of ideas and size is the foundation of a successful government. Without change and growth, the system currently in effect will grow stagnant and inevitably harmful to the public. The United States encourages an “American Dream”. Deeply rooted within the capitalistic, republican values of the nation, the American Dream has been pursued by generations. The concept is simple: to attain one’s stake, your slice of the pie, all that is required is good old fashioned hard work. There is no room in the American Dream to question authority or pursue truth. Of course, one must not think of the activity that hums quietly in the background, that’s just government protecting you and your interests. Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam, is a film that brings into light often hidden aspects of the American Dream, exposing the bold contradictions that turn the greatest symbol of personal drive into a hauntingly apparent contradiction. The film succeeds in pulling the fallacies of establishment out of the murky soup of facades, and in conveying them using the perverse decomposition of the character ...

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...tem. These traits are typical of what has happened throughout history when normal people become subordinate to new and oppressive bureaucracies. It seems that all a treacherous government needs in order to normalize the most disgusting violations of basic human rights is a convincing façade of efficiency. It could be said that the American Dream plays that role in current American society, that it is purely a façade to blind our eyes to the larger system. If the system succeeds in preventing people from gaining awareness of the larger picture, and indeed further compartmentalizes every aspect of life, the line between just and false laws become blurred. Gilliam uses “Brazil” to bring these often overlooked problems with government to the forefront of his viewer’s mind, making apparent that no element of human life is safe from this type of unconscious degeneration.

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