BRAZIL, TERRY GILLIAM, AND ME

This week I watched the 1985 sci-fi antiauthoritarian film BRAZIL, which was directed and co written by Terry Gillam. I struggle to say that this was my first time seeing the movie, which has hints of George Orwell's novel 1984, as I once rented it when my friend thought it would be fun to rent every single post-Python film that any member of Monty Python ever made (a failed attempt I might add.) I don't remember it though, and am pretty sure I must have turned it off or completely tuned it out. However, I decided recently that I would give the acclaimed BRAZIL another chance, something that I had recently done with the director himself. This time, not only did I reach the ending, which made me leap out of my seat not once but twice, but I thoroughly enjoy the entire thing.

Perhaps the reason that I didn't enjoy it the first go around was because it was coming after laugh out loud movies like SPLITTING HEIRS and A FISH CALLED WANDA and having something so complicated and though provoking didn't interest me at the time (I was still in school and who wants to think on their day off?) or perhaps, having just come out of a History and Purpose of Government (you know highlights of how great a country we are and how the system works) Class, I had not yet developed my antiestablishment attitudes enough to understand what Gilliam was getting at. While I’m sure both of these are true, I think a lot of it has to do with Gilliam himself or rather how my view of him has changed. When I first saw Python, I proudly proclaimed he was my least favorite member because his cartoons bothered me and he barely appeared in the show. At this point I was only watching Python as pure entertainment but as I delved deeper into the Pythons themselves with Google alerts and books written about them, I realized that my least favorite was actually Terry Jones but sort of ignored Gilliam all together. His directing was visually stunning, and BROTHERS GRIMM was an amazing take on fairy tales but that was as deep into his work as I wanted or needed to go.

After the accident three months ago and subsequent loss of DJ, I mentioned turning to Python to make me smile, when I did I realized the animations were actually worth not fast forwarding and TG did in fact appear in a lot of sketches he was just in heavy makeup and elaborate costumes. Furthermore, he was really funny, sometimes with barely saying a word; he even played the MAD JAILER in THE LIFE OF BRIAN which is my go to scene when I need a quick laugh. around this time I realized that IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS was on DVD and put it on hold on Netflix which lead me to read and Youtube interviews about the movie which, along with all of the Python stuff I was watching and new (to me) books that I was reading, made me realize that he was a really fun interview and lead me to go further back. Then I read TUNSNANAIN HOLIDAY which was a book about the making of LIFE OF BRAIN from a fan lucky enough to be invited to the set’s perspective and I learned all about the movie making process and so on and so forth, down the rabbit hole I fell.

Aside from his amazing talent and work ethic here are some of the things I like most about Gilliam.
*He is still married to his only wife, Maggie, whom he met when she was the Python makeup girl and their three children worked with him many times over the years including all three taking part in IMAGINARIUM. Family is very important to me so the fact that it is to him too impresses me. And for the record only two of the five living Pythons are still with their first wives.
*He said in an interview that his biggest fear is not death but rather becoming old. He prides himself on being a child even though he turns 70 this month. I want to be like that, he doesn’t seem to care what people think about him, he likes himself and if you remember WAVING THE FREAK FLAG neither do I.
*Imagination and Imaginarium:
Terry wrote IMAGINARIUM (one of my new favorite movies) which in itself speaks volumes about the imagination the man has. He once mentioned that his mind is so vivid that he actually though that he could fly because all of his instincts told him that he had so, as an adult mind you, he had to lay on the ground and attempt to levitate. He failed but the fact that he tried (without the aid of drugs) made me smile.
*Terry gave up his American Citizenship in the middle of the last decade (he had duel citizenship after he became a citizen of Great Britain in 1968) and kind of said without outright saying it that it was because of George W. Bush. I can’t tell you how many times I said I wanted to move to Canada because of that man so hearing someone actually fulfill my half serious empty promise made me well up with as much pride as when Obama was elected.



This brings us back to BRAZIL. From the time I was a fresh faced first time voter in 2004 (ready to elect the new President, about to change the world) to today a lot of things have happened to make me hate politicians John Edwards and distrust Government so now that movie resonates. Also, it teaches the valuable lesson the life isn’t always the way it appears which, lately, is an idea that I kind of like. An idea that goes along with this line from IMAGINARIUM:

Remember

Nothing's permanent

Not even death