h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't normally like to name favourites, thinking it unfair to the other (n-1) contenders to be zeros by implication; however, the first thing that always springs to mind when someone asks my favourite film is "Brazil" (Terry Gilliam).

For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a fantasy set in a deliberately ambiguous era, in a highly constrained and bureaucratic society, and follows one man's struggle not to conform. As with all Gilliam's movies, it is breathtaking - visually, aurally and conceptually. It features Jonathan Pryce (who played Zarniwoop in HH radio series 2) as the hero Sam Lowry, Robert de Niro as an SAS-style subversive maintenance man (classic!), and Michael Palin as a cheerful unassuming everyday average torturer (yes!)

I won't say any more, except that this film left me absolutely reeling from its power and emotion. It's projects a drab, paranoid vision of society, but is filled with electrifying images that will never leave me (Sam's mum having plastic surgery, the maintenance men coming to the rescue, the "storm of paper" scene).

Thank you Terry!

yanno, i bought this dvd.. and really didn't like it. Hearing you describe it, i seem to appreciate the thought and craft put into it more.

Glad to have made a difference - but anyway, the DVD thing might explain some of the problem. I would say that unless you've seen this film in the cinema, you really haven't experienced its majesty. Unless you've got a massive home cinema system, of course

nope .. just a lil sony laptop .. and i was sleepy and in london for a week at the time.. still jet-lagged (and i think i watched it with two intermissions for cadbury's dairymilk and possibly sleep(?) ) so i guess i probably didn't give the movie much of a chance..

Fair enough. I've unjustly dismissed a few things in a similar way myself, including Twin Peaks, for example - I was never in when it was on, but everyone assures me that I would have loved it. I must watch it some day...
Anyway, Brazil is definitely not a film you can watch in instalments - it only really works if you completely lose yourself in the fantasy, so I understand completely how you missed the atmosphere that so captivated me

Definately in my top ten list right next to BladeRunner, Jaws, Halloween and The Empire Strikes Back.

I've heard good and bad things about the DVD package, although I want to watch the "real" version back to back with the "Americanized" happy ending version.

Loved the fancy restaurant scene with the pictures of the food atop scoops of greenish, greyish, brownish gundge.

-- salt?

Brazil is definitely an excellent film and one of my favorites, but my all-time favorite film is another from Terry Gilliam, The Fisher King.

Loosely an updating of the legend of Sir Percival's search for the Holy Grail, it centers around a radio talk show host tormented by guilt for having incited a mass murder. He stumbles across Percy, a man who lost his mind when his wife was killed in that same murder and now thinks he is a knight of the Round Table.

The performances are excellent, the direction brilliant, the story imaginative, compelling, and amusing. And the scene where Percy watches the woman he loves walk through Grand Central Station captivates me every time I watch.

"Americanized" happy ending version? Not heard of it, how is it different?

Of course! How could I have forgotten The Fisher King?! I only saw it once, for the same reason I only saw Schindler's List once, i.e. it was so distressing that I couldn't face it again. However, this says nothing about my evaluation of it - I thought it was excellent.

Excellent film, probably my favourite along with Bladerunner and Nightmare Before Christmas. Does that make me a disturbed and twisted person? Nah.

I really love the dream sequences in Brazil. They're so... dreamy. Seriously though, Terry Gilliam is a genius.

Essentially, in the "Americanized" happy ending the escape is real. He gets the girl, they ride off into the sunset, yadda yadda yadda. Terry Gilliam embarrassed the movie studio into putting the original ending back.

Horrible ending. I like the sad ending better.

Ah! Thanks for the enlightenment. I'm glad they ditched such a vomit-inducing plan. In my opinion, if a story is depicting an oppressive society and contains a hero that the audience can identify with, it should either 1) show the state lumbering on regardless and the hero defeated (which is what usually happens in reality) OR, if it wants to be positive, 2) show the state somehow being overthrown and EVERYONE escaping (which can happen in reality but is very rare). Showing one person managing to beat the system without changing it is usually not credible.

When people ask me what my favourite film is I always say 'Brazil'.

Why? It's the one that taught me what moviemaking can be if you try hard enough. A fantasy that is truely fantastic in scope, imagery and imagination. Everything was so lovingly... constructed. Wonderful stuff.

And just remember: We're all in this together.

Cheers

When Gilliam completed Brazil, Universal Studios didn't like the ending and demanded a reworked "happy" ending or it wouldn't be released in the U.S. Gilliam refused and there ensued a months-long battle between the two. Eventually, Universal agreed to release the movie with the original ending, but when it was broadcast on television, the happy ending was used.

Remember the dream sequence near the end where the hero and heroine wind up living together in bliss? That's where the TV version ends.

I'm a fan of this movie, too. I love the sensuality of Terry Gilliam's vision of a future world. For me it's kind of oposite to Orwell's '1984' - also in dark colors, but more heavy and pesimistic as 'Brazil'.

In my opinion there is only one ending of the movie logical - the sad one. And to be honest, it's not really sad, isn't it? Well, of course, the hero dies, but somehow I always had the feeling, that he won, he now was free. I liked that thought...

And - don't forget the wonderfull music of Michael Kamen, together with songs performed by Kate Bush ('Sam Lowry's 1st dream' and 'Brazil')

First of all, if you haven't seen Brazil, skip this entry. Okay, now, theoretically, everyone reading this already knows how the movie ends, so here goes:

Watch more closely. The hero doesn't die. He just escapes into his dream world permanently. If you listen, you can hear him humming. In the commentary track on the Criterion Collection DVD (my choice for best DVD ever, by the way. great commentary track, tons of info on the movie including documentaries on the making of the movie and the battle over which version would be released, and the 90-minute studio cut with the tacked-on happy ending...yes, this version sucks, but its interesting to watch, especially with the commentary, pointing out all of the differences and how they affect the viewers perception of the film) Terry Gilliam actually mentions the fact that many people thought that Sam Lowry was dead (so you're not alone), theorizing that for some people it was just easier to accept that he was dead.

The Fisher King is probably my least favorite Terry Gilliam movie. Not that it's bad by any means, but Robin Williams kind of ruined it for me (not a Robin Williams fan, can you tell?). All of the other actors give wonderful performances that fit perfectly with the world that Gilliam created, but for the most part Robin Williams is pretty much doing his same old routine. "I had one of those really great bowel movements...Unnnhhhh...." Not funny.

I can feel the complaints from Fisher King/Robin Williams fans pouring in, already.

For the record, I never thought he died. Really.

Me either, but apparently some other people did.

For the 'Brazil' afficionadoes like me, there is a wonderful book that tells it all: 'The Battle of Brazil' by Jack Matthews. Speaks to both sides: Terry Gilliam and the Universal prat who caused most of the trouble, Sid Sheinberg....

Also, check out the published screenplay and find how just which bits didn't make the final print because of time and money. A fascinating read, especially if you're into film as I am.....I felt that 'Brazil' summarised the 1980s really eloquently.

Fruitbat