6- The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, March 30, 1995
Maniacal laughter rings in 'Brazil'
By Michael Zilberman
Daily Arts Writer
There are two things to remember
about Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" should
you decide to rent it. A) It certainly
Hoe~
Entertainment
Center.
does not star Robert De Niro, con-
trary to what the movie's distributors
would love you to think. De Niro
does, however, show up in a cameo
playing probably his most offbeat
character ever, including Johnny Boy
and Frankenstein's monster. B) "Bra-
zil" is neither set in Brazil, nor does it
have anything to do with that country.
The title is culled from an annoying
ditty on the soundtrack.
The storyline is rather convoluted
- the movie unfolds in a series of
powerful but loosely connected se-
quences. From what we are able to
figure out, Sam Lowry, a humble gov-
ernment employee, stumbles upon a
minor mistake his department has
made: due to a glitch in the system, a
wrong man was imprisoned and ex-
ecuted. Shocked by the discovery,
Lowry embarks on a spiritual quest of
sorts. The rest of the film involves
terrorists, utility workers, nagging
mothers, bureaucrats and dream se-
quences in which Sam shows up as a
winged superhero.
The key to understanding "Bra-
zil," as hinted at by the irrelevant title,
is, bluntly put, forgetting about the
plot. Like every dystopia after "Me-
tropolis," "Brazil" employs the quest
motive because it's the most conve-
nient way to lead the Everyman hero
through different levels of society.
Sometimes, we just have to look past
the actors, into the background of the
frame where the real fun lies. The
word "fun" is used since "Brazil" is
about the only movie in its genre
executed with a sense of humor. It
relies on uncontrollable nervous
giggles rather than on genuine laugh-
ter, not unlike Scorsese's early work
(maybe it's De Niro's presence, after
all?).
In fact, the humor of "Brazil" is
downright disturbing. Paperwork lit-
erally devours a man. Call the myste-
rious "Central Services" to report an
air conditioning problem and two sin-
ister gnomes in uniforms will materi-
alize in your kitchen and rip your
apartment to shreds. The scene of the
innocent man's arrest is at once gro-
tesquely exaggerated in a way worthy
of Abuladze's "Repentance" (the po-
lice barge in through the holes in the
ceiling) and matter-of-factly, even
domestic (the immortal "This is your
receipt for your husband, and this is
my receipt for your receipt"). Else-
where, a grieving widow might be
shown at her husband's grave. Here,
she is presented with a refund check.
It is peculiar that "Brazil" is told
entirely through the eyes of the
system's functionary, not its victim,
which only adds to the deadpan quali-
ties of the narration. At some point,
this indifference becomes more un-
nerving than the pathos of "1984":
After all, the latter's hidden purpose
was to show the world what we've
managed to avoid so far. In a tasteless
gesture of public reassurance, it was
even shot and released in '84. "Bra-
zil" sets its story "somewhere in the
20th century, 8:45 p.m," and its real-
ity, while less openly menacing, is
also much more conceivable. It's
hardly a mythical dictatorship - it's
a system where the bureaucracy is
blown up to monstrous proportions
and services have grown completely
faceless. Like it or not, "Brazil" is a
logical extension of the basic tenden-
cies of today.
As if that wasn't enough, the
film is weirdly stylized. It toys with
the trappings of film noir, gathering
all of its key motives: a quest, a
mistaken identity case, a wrong
man's execution, and then makes
sure none of these actually lead any-
where. With "Brazil," one can't even
be certain whether it's a flaw or a
strategy. The pace is jarring - the
movie culminates at exactly the
same pitch it began - but doesn't it
add to the overall effect? Sam Lowry
is not much of a character, his "dra-
matic need", so to speak, isn't really
established - then again, why
should it be? At its worst, "Brazil"
is a clever, acid political commen-
tary. At its best, it pushes its narra-
tive convolutions over the line into
the realm of gleeful absurdity.
*1
ACID JAZZ
Continued from page 1.
Spearhead (formerly of Disposable
Heroes ofHypocrisy and The Beatnigs).
Although not one, the acid jazz
label and joint projects by jazz and rap
artists, has joined these two art forms at
the hip. There is now no question that
the over-intellectualizing and tradition-
alist consciousness which once kept
jazz and rap separate is crumbling.
Miles Davis, as he did for decades, led
the jazz community when he hooked
up with Easy Mo Bee (Big Daddy
Kane, Rappin' Is Fundamental) for his
last studio album, "Doo Bop." As 1995
began, the Pat Metheny Group inte-
grated loops, however simplistic, into
their new album "We Live Here."
New jack jazz artists like guitar-
ist Ronnie Jordan, poetess Dana
Bryant and groups like the Groove
Collective, the Soulsonics and Night
Trains offer new flavors and a bet-
ter understanding of how jazz and
rap can work together, even if they
do not have as much talent as the
established artists. As hip-hop's
rhythms permeate yet another genre,
both jazz and rap breath fresh air.
It's music that we were raised lis-
tening to. It's always been in our homes.
-Mecca (AKA Ladybug) from Digable
Planets.
We still babies to me. - Q-Tip
As hip-hop reaches back and pushes
forward simultaneously, the possibili-
ties seem exciting and endless. Cutting
edge rap groups are now composed of
the personnel of a jazz quartet plus a
DJ and a rapper while samplers are
becoming commonplace tools for jazz
artists. Caught in between the two are
the innovative acid jazz artists who do
not quite have the skills of the jazz
artists and do not quite understand hip-
hop like rap artists.
This group has provided a forum
for the meeting of two art forms, and it
is here where innovation takes place.
Latin influences are beginning to join
the repertoire of acid jazz artists. Rap-
pers are reaching back to the lyrical
styles of the Last Poets. Togetherthese
forces express an amalgamation of tra-
ditions and innovations that will keep
evolving into new forms and new ideas,
carrying both jazz and hip-hop into the
next century.
Robert DeNiro isn't really in "Brazil" that much, even though its distributors would like you to think so.
OCHS
Continued from page 5
Mississippi mud" may fail to resonate
in younger minds, the message remains
clear: act now or face the consequences
later.
It is the passion of the music that
comes through most of all in Ochs'
work. He was obviously a man who
cared deeply for his country and felt
each misstep it took as if it was taken
by a member of the family. It is not
outrage that he vents in "That Was the
President" but unadulterated sorrow, a
sadness at a senseless tragedy. "Call it
peace or call it reason/Call it love or
call it treason/I ain't marching any-
more," he sings in the title track, stating
his ideology as clearly as anything he
ever wrote: it was his love for the
country that ultimately drove him, not
just anger and cynicism. Love endures,
cynicism does not and thus his work
survives while that of so many other
protest singers remain rightly buried
permanently in that decade.
Ochs went on to make another
handful of records, each one com-
ing up shorter than the last. A live
record from 1965-66 sadly remains
out of print, though much of it is
available on Elektra's fine compila-
tion, "There But For Fortune." He
recorded three albums for A&M, all
of which are unavailable in the
States, slowly embracing more
elaborate arrangements and more
poetic lyrics, finding the burning
passion of his early days occasion-
ally but missing more frequently
and sinking deeper and deeper into
alcoholism and depression, unable
to grasp why "the movement" col-
lapsed into counter-culturalism and
apathy.
On April 9, 1976, Ochs killed him-
self in New York. His music survived
him, however, living on in the work of
artists like the Clash, Billy Bragg and
Tracy Chapman. Now that his two most
important works are available once
again, there is no excuse for failing to
embrace one of the best and most dedi-
cated of the protest singers.
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