9) Torture: Part One – Brazil
There is so much to be written about the maddening effect of bureaucratic immorality in Gilliam’s masterpiece that I will instead focus on the scene below, of poor Sam Lowry’s eventual end. The imagery Gilliam employs is as brutal in its simplicity as it is nonsensical in its scale; the importance of one man’s mind when turned against the grain is not taken lightly in this brave new world.
There is a scene preceding this, one which rarely gets the attention it deserves. It is a scene in Jack’s office and Michael Palin’s Jack is discussing the torture business with Sam while his children play on his office floor. In one image Gilliam sets out the absurdity and stark acceptance of this new civilization. One in which torture is a corporate division, with tickboxes and thumbscrews in abundance. Palin’s performance is revelatory here. Always ‘the nice one’ of the group he is set to work here against all preconceived notion of Palin as an actor.
In many ways the casting makes the film, it certainly makes his scenes as effective as they need to be. In the world of Brazil death comes with a smiling face, and the offer of tea before the end.
