American Cinematographer - December 2006 - 20

1- and 3-Disc Editions
1.78:1

(16x9 Enhanced)
Dolby Digital 2.0
The Criterion Collection,
$29.95(1-Disc) and
$59.95 (3-Disc)

Assurance. (He has since reteamed with
Gilliam on The Fisher King and 12

city -
the ominous, Orwellian urbania of Terry
Gilliams' Brazil. Shoppers clutter the
streets hunting for bargains while drone¬
like workers march to their jobs. The
jammed avenues, stuffed with govern¬
ment propaganda and holiday billboards,
are frantic with action and heavily
patrolled by authorities to keep citizens
on the straight and narrow. Ubiquitous
advertisements while

Christmas carols pour from publicaddress systems. Occasionally, a terror¬
ist bomb goes off, throwing the streets
into

a

panic until government agents

restore order.

During one particular commotion,
Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) wakes from
his recurring, blissful dream of a myste¬
rious, beautiful woman. Lowry's boss,
Mr. Kurtzmann (Ian Holm), calls to

explain a bureaucratic error in the
processing of a potential criminal,
Archibald Tuttle. As

a

result,

one

Archibald Buttle has been

wrongfully
incarcerated. Assigned with rectifying
the Tuttle/Buttle mishap, Lowry must
contend with his class-conscious mother

(Katherine Helmond); a mysterious
plumber (Robert De Niro) who claims to
18 December 2006

darkness. Also, a

the short film The Crimson Permanent

It's Christmas time in the

run

detail

(Kim Greist), Buttles
neighbor, who also happens to be
the woman in Lowry's dream. When he
pursues Jill, Lowry unwittingly finds
himself a suspected terrorist, the target
of a Draconian government that believes
"suspicion breeds confidence."
Gilliam's futuristic nightmare of
misanthropy and bureaucracy was
photographed by Roger Pratt, BSC
(Mona Lisa, The End of the Affair), who
had previously worked with the director
on Monty Fython's Meaning of Life and

Brazil [mb]

televisions

be Tuttle; and Jill

angry

Monkeys.) For Brazil, Pratt established a
noirish atmosphere sparked with neon
colors and stark lighting that is often
juxtaposed with numerous, fanciful
dream sequences rendered in a lush,
colorful palette. The cinematographer
used wide-angle lenses in close shots to
establish an oppressive, discomfiting
visual tone.

can

1998 with

a

Video, but

one year

slightly different

aspect ratio has been used - 1.78:1
which adds a sliver of picture infor¬

-

mation to the lower

portion of the

screen.

The

Dolby Digital 2.0 sound
slightly more pronounced on this
but closely resembles the track on

seems

DVD

the 1999 disc. As with Criterion's earlier

release, the film is accompanied by one
supplement, a busy audio commentary
by Gilliam. Recorded for the 1996
laserdisc, the commentary sheds light
on many of Brazil's technical aspects
and features anecdotes about Gilliam's
infamous rift with studio executives
the film's final cut. The track is

over

informative, but Gilliam often adopts a
self-congratulatory, embittered tone
that
set

inappropriate.
Buyers of the three-disc boxed
will find an abundance of supple¬
seems

mental materials

featured

Brazil made its DVD debut in

be found in shadows and

on

-

all of the extras

the 1999 set,

including

an

excellent, 60-minute documentary by

disc from Universal Home

Jack Matthews called "The Battle of

later, The Criterion
Collection released the picture in a DVD
boxed set, an update of the company's

interviews with Gilliam and several

Brazil: A Video

History." This features

studio executives who

recently issued a new transfer of the film
in both three-disc and single-disc pack¬

part of an
drastically
change the ending to make it a crowdpleaser. Both parties make surprisingly
solid cases for themselves, making the

ages.

well-known outcome of the conflict

sensational 1996 laserdisc set, that was
much more impressive. Criterion

Criterion's

1999

transfer

Gilliam's 142-minute cut of the film

of
was

good and generally faithful to Pratt's
work, but it sported a 1.85:1 frame,
occasionally lacked sharpness, and
was not anamorphically enhanced for
widescreen televisions. This

new

fer is widescreen-enhanced and

trans¬

clearly
benefits from the advances made in digi¬
tal-transfer technology over the last
seven years. Colors seem a shade
deeper and more realistic, and more

were

effort to truncate Brazil and

more

interesting.
Also included among

the three
Conquers All, the shock¬
ing, 94-minute cut of the film created by
Universal that features a distinctly
different tone and a ridiculous happy
ending. Although the feature is
discs is Love

presented full-frame and lacks the
punch of the "real" film transfer,
it's an amazing example of how another
party can put the same material to radi¬
cally different use. The set also features

visual
American Cinematographer - December 2006

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2006
