Directed by Terry Gilliam (1985 132 mins)

Screening of Gilliam’s dystopian Masterpiece, Brazil
Hollywood Forever Cemetery – LA, CA
7/5/09
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Several years back, I was hired at USC to work for the development office of the Engineering Department.   I recalled staring at a card on my desk printed in the university’s austere colorway and embossed in bold serif font: “Robust Strategies for Terrorist Intervention.” I had a vivid flashback of Terry Gilliam’s classic film, Brazil (only great films can evoke those experiences).  Suddenly I felt as if my life mirrored Sam Lowry’s (Jonathan Price) who engulfed in a flurry of white papers, had unwittingly engaged himself in a system that obfuscated the truth and eliminated those that threatened to expose its flaws.
The film invariably struck a cord with me, as current-day political demagogues in the media used Orwellian doublespeak to promote an unjustified war in Iraq.  Just as the system failed to promote any real security in the retro-futuristic world of Brazil, so did we, as Americans, suffer the inexorable and fiscally draining agendas of Bush and Cheney’s “war on terror.”  After a long day at the office, I went home to watch the film again.

Aside from how apropos message remains, Brazil has been acclaimed as a landmark in the realm of 80′s sci-fi fantasy. A bold visionary style that includes a rollicking adventure, breathtaking set design and surreal, dark comedy. Quite honestly there’s nothing that comes close to this strangely sombre, yet beautiful world.

A lonely clerk named Sam Lowry, who serves as mere cog in the bureaucratic machine, falls in love with an enigmatic girl and inadvertently becomes an enemy of the state.  Sprinkled within this morose fairytale is sidesplitting humor provided by Bob Hoskins and Robert DeNiro, who rival each other in the slapstick plumbing scene. For those who’ve seen the film, its complexity merits several viewings and for those who haven’t I highly recommend you check it out for the first time at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  To convince you further, the wonderful DJ Carlos Nino (of KXLU’s Spaceways) will be spinning from his deep crates before and after the screening.

Gates open at 7:30 pm and the screening commences at 9:00 pm
No reservation necessary
$10 donation tickets available at gate
Parking available inside

As a courtesy to other moviegoers: NO TALL CHAIRS!!

LOCATION:
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
6000 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90038

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For more info on Cinespia and a list of their upcoming screenings, visit: http://www.cinespia.org/