I managed to catch this movie on late night TV recently, and was so glad I did. Wondered what others think of it? I must confess that, prior to discovering JF, I'd never got further than the first 30minutes (usually because I'd missed the first 15, which you need to understand the rest of the film) but I now see what the fuss was all about. This was Goliath in all its glory - stupid, governmental rules, towering skyscrapers, bent politicians and glorious, glorious anarchy!

One more point: as a 'writer in progress' I'm used to being given 'sensible advice' for 'successful (i.e 'saleable') copy. This includes the RTMNBB (rules that must NOT be broken) when it comes to penning a story. Thus, we have the inevitable 'grand plan' by which all novels are written: there must be a hero/heroine and a villain. Hero has to undergo hardship, danger and privation (yes, even in chick lit lite) until - hey presto! - there's a happy ending.

So well done, Terry Jones, for turning this last rule squarely on its head and giving us the most downbeat and tragic ending of any movie I've seen - unless, of course, you were the hero. It's given me the inspiration to ignore some of that tutorial advice, and be a bit less 'safe' with my own writing.Yes, Brazil left me feeling damned uncomfortable; the bad guys squarely win, the nasty things will never come to an end no matter how hard people fight, and that final scene keeps me awake some nights still thinking about it. But I now see it's the only way the world can ever HAVE heroes, and also why writers of Jasper's intellect can happily drown a two year old in a river, or kill off a much loved character (Mycroft - or Sirius in Harry Potter) and not worry too much how the readers will take it.

Much better than safe, happy story lines!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2007 11:15AM by Jazz_Sue.

I love this film, so much that parts of it have turned up in Vampire game. And yes it is a bad ending, but when you put it into context that the studio wanted Terry to end it with the escape, and he felt that was a major let down to the whole story.

Last time I watched it I watched it with my daughter who was 13 at the time, and it seriously messed with her head.

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Blood! Death! War! Rumpy pumpy! Triumph!

I think you mean Terry Gilliam don't you? Terry Jones was in Monty Python too, but Gilliam is responsible for Brazil.

I'm a fan too. Have you seen The Adventures of Baron Munchausen?

If you possibly can see TG's "Directors cut" version.

I quite like Munchausen, but far prefer "The Fisher King" and perhaps mrs. SkidMarks and I are the only people in the world who like "The Brothers Grimm"

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

Not the only ones :)

I remember being blown away that the nice python was a torturer... But otherwise a rather nice fellow. It reminded me of what Pterry said about the torturers in small gods. Or rather, the other way around, because I saw brazil before I'd heard of Pterry.

Aargh! Of course it was Gilliam not Jones. I'm menopausal, doncha know. Got the certificate to prove it.

If you ask me, Rules That Must Not Be Broken are the ones that are most important to break.