4. Brazil
Brazil goes even further than Death to Smoochy. It shows us all too terrifyingly what can happen after imagination has been smothered all but completely, and why its imperative that we cherish it. Brazils world is one in which paperwork determines everything. If you dont have the form, you dont get anywhere. Even when common sense is applicable, if you dont have that 27B/6 with you, stamped and all, forget about it. Terrorist (maybe) bombings happen left and right, but can be easily ignored with the right violins. But some members of that society dream when no one is watching, ironically causing the system to drift into further disarray. Innovators like Robert De Niros Harry Tuttle are branded as criminals. The protagonist, Jonathan Pryces Sam Lowry, becomes careless and dreams too much, which allows him to become the patsy for the entire system. But his dreams are breathtaking. Sam soars above the clouds to the majestic sound of blaring trumpets, and his nameless soul mate floats in the air as if underwater, amid flowing white robes. Sams dreams follow his character arc. Eventually, cold, dead buildings jut up through the green ground of Sams fantasy world, blotting out the sun and putting Sams companion into a cage. It physically enacts the appalling, unforgivable crime of what everyone else in Sams society has allowed to go underground. Sams dream world brings out the colossally mundane suffocating darkness of the real world. Even the titular music floating around the movies atmosphere, reminiscent of bygone days, works for and against Sam. Brazil reminds the audience what can happen when we stop thinking and fill out the circles without understanding why. Again, this is a dark movie. But this is what the world can become when everything is sacrificed in the name of good sportsmanship, when our virtues and humanity are used to turn into efficiency. This is a message we need to remember, and Brazil depicts it so beautifully, chillingly well.