10 Sci-Fi Movies Where Evil Won

Terry Gilliam's dystopian masterpiece Brazil follows low-level civil servant Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) as he attempts to locate a woman from his dreams while facing off against a hyper-bureaucratic government.

In the film's haunting ending, Sam is captured by the government and charged with treason, before being informed that his love interest Jill (Kim Greist) has been killed and he's due to be tortured imminently.

Though Sam then appears to be rescued, it's eventually revealed that this is simply an imagined happy ending, and Sam is actually still in government captivity, having been lobotimised.

Sam may therefore be blissfully happy in the film's final moments, but it's an undeniable victory for the oppressive government, who have once again exerted their will over a pesky challenger. As it so often does in life, the depressing status quo endures.