Frequently Asked Questions

Archive-name: movies/brazil-faq
Last-modified: 1998/7/17
Version: 1.4

Brazil
Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

Over a decade after the release of Brazil, Terry Gilliam's film remains one of the most valued movies by individuals on the Internet. As the complex plot and unique style of Brazil have endeared fans, the legendary battle about Brazil's release between Gilliam and Sid Sheinberg (then president of Universal pictures, the studio responsible for releasing Brazil in the US) has become an essential part of film history. As is rarely the case, an underdog director successfully battled a studio to get his film released as he intended it... resulting in a great degree of confusion over the different available versions of Brazil. This FAQ has been created to answer frequently asked questions pertaining to all matters regarding the film.

This list will be posted once a year to rec.arts.movies.misc, news.answers, and rec.answers. This FAQ may be posted to alt.cult-movies and alt.movies.terry-gilliam at my discretion.

The followup field is set to rec.arts.movies.misc

This FAQ is available for anonymous FTP wherever news.answers is archived, for example: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/movies/brazil-faq There are many other FTP sites in Northern America, Europe and Asia which archive this FAQ. Use archie or veronica to find one near you.

Trond Frittz's excellent HTML version of the FAQ is available at http://home.sol.no/~frittz, complete with pictures and an early draft of the Brazil script.

A Japanese version of the FAQ is being developed! Please consult http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~morrow/kb/kb.cgi?b=brazil&c=v&num=40 for developments on the translation.

This FAQ contains spoilers. Watch the film before reading this FAQ.