6. BRAZIL (1985)
Directed by Terry Gilliam
A slapstick version of 1984 sounds like a bizarre hybrid, but the frantic tale of ambition-free drone Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), who takes on the totalitarian government for the sake of his fantasy woman (Kim Greist), is a perversely devastating mix of hilarity and shock. Gilliam creates a depressing, shoddy futurescape of tubes and wires, where the creativity that was supposed to give us robots and jet packs has been channeled into expanding an oppressive bureaucracy that charges suspected dissidents for their own torture.
POP CULTURE LEGACY Echoing the film's David-and-Goliath plot, Gilliam won the fight to release his original version of the movie only after an epic struggle with Universal, the unhappy studio that had repossessed Brazil, cut over 40 minutes from it, and added a happy ending. (Both versions are now available on Criterion's superb three-DVD set.) Like Lowry, who dreams of being a brave knight battling evil, the iconoclastic director would repeat this underdog clash against his backers on many of his later pictures, although never to such thrilling results.
THE BEST BIT In a quintessentially dark comic moment, Lowry visits the office of his genial chum Jack (Michael Palin), who, in a blood-smeared smock, babysits his cherubic daughter while putting the screws to some rebels. —Josh Wolk
