History and Background of Brazil

When we saw “Brazil”, the first thing we asked ourselves is why it is called “Brazil”.

The name of the movie, “Brazil”, comes from the soundtrack. The main song is a popular Latin song from the late 1930s by Arry Barroso “Brazil”, which was often used as a way of escape from reality in the context of the movie.

“Brazil, where hearts were entertained in June.

We stood beneath an amber moon, and softly

murmured 'Some day soon. 'We kissed.”

“Brazil” was released in 1985, but the time in the movie is identified as “8:45 P.M., SOMEWHERE IN THE 20th CENTURY”. We realised that the movie has different elements of the 20th century such as typewriters, TVs, a kind of computer, among others. These objects have existed throughout the 20th century, but we can’t identify exactly when they were invented and when they were mostly used.

“Brazil” is part of the postwar cinema (after World War II). It has a lot of terrorists and rebellions, so that the government has the responsibility to stop them, but, despite the fact that there is a modern technology society, the government doesn’t work properly, it is full of misunderstanding and inefficiencies from government’s workers, what has brought them many problems. The normal workers in society are passive, powerless, obedient, and they avoid calling attention from the files in the Ministry of Information's flawed computer system.

The world, in “Brazil”, is very bureaucratic; everything has a structure and requires a form, and nobody has freedom because everybody is being watched by Ministry of Information.

Terry Gilliam, the film’s director, was a member of the Monty Python, a British television comedy show that laughed at their society making fun and being ironic. “Brazil” could be a mockery of the England society. It is a comedy, but not the kind of comedy we know, it is an ironic comedy, a movie that shows in a ridiculous way how things work in England and how we adapt to the situations.