Elements of the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam

Erik Meyer

Com 103

Brazil movie analysis

In the movie Brazil directed by Terry Gilliam the director uses certain elements and techniques to help tell a story of a guy and a woman living in a psychopathic totalitarian government and them struggling against it.

In the movie, the setting is very dark and bland. Every one were sam works wears grey suits and work in a factory like fashion, everyone's working on the same task or similar ones. Not only is his workplace in a high affinity of tone and color but the outside city is all industrialized. An industrialized city with a totalitarian government nicely shows a world of despair. Also when Jill and Sam are driving to different places throughout the city the view of the world is covered up by billboards, hiding the wasteland of the world; seeing no trees or sign of nature anywhere. The billboards create what a “perfect”society should look like or have and it  has a influence on it’s people too. The police or guards were an all black uniform and almost appear to be soldiers more police and are meant to look this way to plant fear in the people.

There is also different usage of shots throughout the movie. In one scene there is a mirror used to show multiples of sam and jill almost creating a deep space and suspense. There is also certain transition shots that are made that ad to the flow of the movie and keep the viewers in tune.

The pacing of the movie was also another technique the director used to help craft the movie. How the movie goes in and out from sams job to when sam falls asleep and has dreams of him flying after the girl in his dreams and then fighting things like the golem or samurai to save her.Also when sam makes love to jill and the over shot of the bead curtain closing, makes the viewer think the movies is about to end, but then something dramatic happens. The guards or police come and capture sam and then shoot jill. Then when sam is getting tortured he has a vision that tuttle and jill save him and he lives happily with jill free from the government. The viewer now think the movies over , but then it goes back to sam being tortured showing that he lost his mind. In the parts where he is flying in the clouds there's a lot more lighting but, when he starts to fight things that are evil there is an abundance of shadows and low lighting. In others scenes of the movie there is also low lighting of a high affinity of tone , like sam's apartment and when mr tuttle shows up, he appears as a rebel and he is.

the director uses certain technique  like changing the pace of the movie or amount of lighting, using the affinity of color and tone to help make the movie; to show what it truly means.