Brazil   (1985)

It's 8:49pm, somewhere in the 20th century. The Ministry of Information spends 7% of the GDP on activities ranging from anonymous filing in the Department of Records to the sinister procedures of Information Retrieval. Sam Lowry is content to underachieve in Records until his life is changed forever by a swatted fly falling into a printer, a chance encounter with the woman of his dreams, and the intervention a freelance subversive heating engineer. His mother's influence with the Minister, Mr Helpmann, secures him promotion to Information Retrieval where, as officer DZ-015, he can open up his dreamgirl's files. But the ultimate escapism comes at a high price.

[ Phespirit enjoys: Phespirit's favourite film, Terry Gilliam's futuristic vision of the present as a society suffocated by mistrust and bureaucracy. Show-stealing performance by Ian Holm as the pathetic, paranoid, head of Records - motto: "Suspicion Breeds Confidence". Marvellous cameos by Gordon Kaye as the petty MOI Lobby Porter ("no, there's no stamp on it, you see") and Bryan Pringle as Spiro ("you have to say the number"). ]

Players

Jonathan Pryce - Sam Lowry;
Kim Greist - Jill Layton;
Michael Palin - Jack Lint;
Peter Vaughan - Mr Helpmann;
Ian Holm - Mr Kurtzmann;
Robert De Niro - Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle;
Katherine Helmond - Mrs Ida Lowry;
Antony Brown - Dawson (Porter - Information Retrieval);

Quotes

ARCHIBALD 'HARRY' TUTTLE:

Listen, this whole system of yours could be on fire and I couldn't even turn on a kitchen tap without filling out a 27B-stroke-6. Bloody paperwork! Huh!

SAM LOWRY:

I suppose one has to expect a certain amount .....

ARCHIBALD 'HARRY' TUTTLE:

Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they've got the whole country sectioned off - can't make a move without a form.

ARCHIBALD 'HARRY' TUTTLE:

Thanks, Lowry - you're a good man in a tight corner.

MR KURTZMANN:

The Population Census has got him down as 'dormanted'; and then the Central Collective Storehouse Computer has got him down as 'deleted';

SAM LOWRY:

Hang on .....

MR KURTZMANN:

Information Retrieval has got him down as 'inoperative'; and there's another one - Security has got him down as 'excised'; and Administration has got him down as 'completed' .....

SAM LOWRY:

He's dead.

MR HELPMANN:

Your father and I were very close. Of course, Jeremiah was senior to me but we were close friends, especially after the bombing. And now I keep his name alive at the office everyday, as though he's still speaking to me: "ERE I AM J.H." - the ghost in the machine.

SAM LOWRY:

Excuse me, Dawson, could you put me through to Mr Helpmann's office, please?

DAWSON:

I'm afraid I can't, sir. You have to go through the proper channels.

SAM LOWRY:

And, er, you can't tell me what the proper channels are because that's, ah, classified information?

DAWSON:

I'm glad to see the Ministry's continuing its tradition of recruiting the brightest and best, sir.

SAM LOWRY:

Thank you, Dawson.

Song

Brazil
Where hearts were entertained in June
We stood beneath an amber moon
And softly murmured "some day soon"
    (some day)

We kissed
    (we kissed)
        And clung together

Then
Tomorrow was another day
The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say

Now
When twilight beams the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing that I'm certain of

Return
I will, to old
Brazil

(return) Return
(I will)   I will
(to old) To old
Bra-zil!