by Charles Crane

Created on: April 05, 2009

Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil opens with a subtitle which places the events as taking place "sometime in the 20th century." Unlike George Orwell's 1984 (a dystopian novel set in the future with which Brazil is often compared), Brazil is imbued from the start with an ambiguity as to whether its world represents the past, the present, or the future. This is not an inconsequential detail, as the film's depiction of technology as a dehumanizing force and of a government becoming increasingly conservative and bureaucratic in the face of widespread terrorism appears eerily prescient from a modern perspective. By blurring the timeline, it suggests that certain ideas about a government controlling its citizens recur throughout history and will continue to do so.

The film's events are set into motion by a literal bug in the machine' which introduces a typographical error into an arrest warrant for Archibald "Harry" Tuttle (Robert DeNiro), a freelance duct repairman. The mistake leads to the arrest of an innocent man with the name Archibald Buttle, which is witnessed by his neighbor Jill Layton (Kim Greist). When Buttle dies during a procedure called Information Retrieval, paperwork regarding the procedure is delivered to Buttle's widow by Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a low-level government clerk at the Ministry of Information who spends much of his life daydreaming. While there, Lowry sees Layton, who bares a striking resemblance to the woman of Lowry's dreams. In order to get closer to Layton, Lowry pulls a few nepotistic strings and gets his job promoted to the Information Retrieval department.

Lowry's friend and workmate Jack Lint (Michael Palin) informs him that the government suspects Layton of aiding and abetting Tuttle. Lowry assures Lint that he can "deactivate" Layton, and when he sees her next, he climbs into her truck. He informs her that she is officially considered an accessory to terrorists and promises to help her, and also professes his love for her. Lowry, worried that Layton will be arrested, makes her drive through a security checkpoint and a chase scene ensues. Layton tries to lose them at a shopping mall, but when a terrorist's bomb detonates inside, she is arrested as a suspect. Lowry then goes into the government's computer system and edits Layton's record to indicate that she died in the explosion. Lowry and Layton consummate their romance, but are arrested the next day. Lowry is sent to Information Retrieval, where the term is revealed to be

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