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"Brazil" possibly represents an escape from the bureaucratic dystopia. Besides being a far away location, the 1939 Brazilian song "Aquarela do Brasil" is heard throughout the film - particularly in Sam's dream sequences. The lyrics begin: "Brazil / Where hearts were entertained in June / We stood beneath an amber moon / and softly murmured 'someday soon...'"Additionally, Gilliam describes the film as a "documentary" of justice systems in South America and 80% of the world's countries.On the DVD collection, during the behind the scenes interview, Gilliam is quoted as saying that he was once standing on an incredibly polluted beach with his friend. Black clouds rose from factories in the distance, the beach was covered in dirt, and he was shocked at the ridiculousness of the music being played on the radio-- Aquarela do Brasil, the main theme, because of the contrast of the scenery with the upbeatness of the music. This apparently inspired the title, and much of the scenery of the film.In the Criterion DVD comentary, the director mentions an opening scene that was never shot due to budget constraints. The shot is a lead-in to the scene where the "bug in the system" mixes up Tuttle and Buttle on the printout, setting the plot in motion. In the unshot scene, a giant machine clear-cuts the rain forest, pulping the wood. A beetle on one of the trees flies up before it can be destroyed, and makes the trip back to the ministry with the pulp. The ministry turns the pulp into paper. Ironically, the first paper is used to print regulations for protecting the rain forest. Additional paper is used to print the Tuttle notices, and the beetle finally meets its death there. So, the idea of Brazil is that this paperwork-driven society owes its very existence to the trees of Brazil, which it is systematically destroying.It could also be a reference to Hy-Brazil, a paradise island found in Irish mythology.
From the Brazil FAQ v1.3: "The samurai is a huge, monolithic, powerful machine, and is assumed to represent technology." Sam finds his own face behind the mask, which reveals that he was a willing participant in the governmental monstrosity. In the director's commentary, Terry Gilliam suggests that representing Sam's dual nature as such was a play on the word "samurai" by the screenwriter Tom Stoppard--samurai can be read as SAM-U-R-I (Sam, you are I).
From the Brazil FAQ v1.3: "Gilliam's mother once sent him a mask like that, and it haunted him ever since. Gilliam intended the effect of combining the masks and the decaying bodies of the Forces of Darkness (the small, troll-like creatures which Sam sees in his dreams) to be an intermingling of the beginning and ends of life."
From the Brazil FAQ v1.3: "An executive decision maker. . . it has a plunger that can fall to one side of a divider, landing on "YES" or "NO"."
***this may contain SPOILERS***Chapter headings based on my DVD sleeve, based on the dvd times: * 01 = 00:00:00.000 - Intro - * 02 = 00:06:30.000 - Department of records / error - * 03 = 00:08:56.000 - Promotion - * 04 = 00:22:16.000 - Introducing Harry Tuttle - * 05 = 00:32:27.000 - Delivering the refund cheque - * 06 = 00:42:30.000 - Her name is Jill Layton - * 07 = 00:54:27.000 - Mother's party - * 08 = 01:02:33.000 - Information retrieval - * 09 = 01:06:15.000 - My name is Harvey Lione - * 10 = 01:11:20.000 - Room 5001 - * 11 = 01:17:54.000 - That's her - * 12 = 01:23:58.000 - Trust me - * 13 = 01:27:23.000 - Major breakthrough - * 14 = 01:32:57.000 - What about the package - * 15 = 01:38:21.000 - She's innocent, Jack - * 16 = 01:41:40.000 - Tuttle to the rescue - * 17 = 01:48:06.000 - I know a way - * 18 = 01:52:11.000 - You no longer exist - * 19 = 01:54:34.000 - The punishment - * 20 = 02:13:19.000 - end credits -.000 is a placeholder for the exact time.These are best viewed edited so as to show one chapter per line, if using this for search. There is a copy showing this in the Message board, which is only accessible when logged in. That also includes an OGG version.The OGG version is for if there are players that can work from an external OGG chapters file.
r73731
