Brilliant in EVERY way...

The worlds are similar, most dystopian worlds tend to be. This film however, merges some Huxleyan ideas well with some twists to the more common and prevalent Orwellian views of the world. Gilliam really paints a fantastic futuristic world bogged down by bureaucracy and political intrigue. While Orwell constantly paints a world of an outside threat that kept the proletarian and party members in line, Huxley painted a world where individual freedom was not cared or sought after because they (the populace) were led to believe their future had already been perfected and the only threat to their person was non-conformity.

The Orwellian view of a bureaucratic nightmare is mixed well with a Huxleyan threat of unrestricted personal investment and non-conformity with the society as opposed to restricted and checked personal ambition, which the former, in the end served to bring about Sam's demise. In a world where the person must restrict his personal needs, wants and rights (remember SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE) for the greater good of a bureaucracy that is working for the people because of an unmitigated and constant threat; Gilliam has harmonized these two world views into a masterpiece.

At least, that is how I view it.

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An excellent comparison.

The current rating here is 8.0 which is yet another travesty of the IMDB 'rating' system. This is at least a 9... my only beef is that it could've been edited a bit tighter in places... though I know Gilliam did love his little detours.

I just saw 'Shirley' in a BBC crime drama and was amazed. The actress is =nothing= like that character. In fact she's an absolutely lovely older woman.

I don't really think the two have much in common aside from sharing a futuristic setting. The stories they tell are quite different. I also think Brazil is by far the superior of the two films. To each his own, I suppose.