Besides being one of my favorite movies, Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL is one of the great movies set at Christmas that isn't necessarily a Christmas movie. In fact, it can be easily argued that, thought all signs point to Christmas' imminent arrival in the world the movie depicts, the holiday in fact might never actually arrive. It's that sort of world, and that sort of movie.
Whatever the case, BRAZIL is definitely dripping with Christmas decor. From the opening scene, where the ill-fated Buttle family is anticipating the holiday and reading Dicken's immortal tale "A Christmas Carol," the yuletide visuals are apparent...
The boy, incidentally, is playing with toy versions of the same soldiers who will soon burst into the apartment (preceded by a sound uncannily like sleigh bells -- one of Gilliam's many clever touches) and take Mr. Buttle away to be tortured to death.
That torturer happens to be nice guy and family man Jack Lint (Michael Palin), who has a Christmas present at the ready when he's visited by his old friend, Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce). Notice Jack's lab coat, still stained with the blood of his latest assignment...
Everyone at Information Retrieval has the holiday spirit, it seems. When we first see the well-armed, imposing shock troops, we notice their basement headquarters is festooned with a Christmas tree.
And later in the movie, in an even stranger mix of jolly and ominous, they're practicing their Christmas carols...
But the most memorable holiday moment in BRAZIL is one that American audiences didn't originally get to see. It comes after our hero, Sam, has been arrested. Just before he's sent to his old buddy Jack Lint, family friend (and government bigwig) Mr. Helpmann (Peter Vaughan) appears to Sam in his padded cell -- and he's not dressed in a suit and tie...
It's a startling, chilling, funny moment -- and one that fits perfectly with the nostalgic, surreal mood of the movie. Maybe I was wrong about Christmas never actually arriving. After all, Santa finally showed up, didn't he?
Coming tomorrow: The big day is finally here!
1 comments:
One of my all-time favorites, too.
There's an odd parallel between the scene where Sam goes to get info from one information agency officer, and walks in after hearing the torture, and his friend Jack is at the sink in a blood-covered white jacket, and one from Monty Python.
In the barber scene (which becomes the Lumberjack Song), it starts with a customer walking in as our friend Michael Palin is at a sink in a blood-covered white jacket. FUNFUNFUN.
Also, I couldn't help but think of this movie soon after 9/11...the never-ending war on terror, etc.
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