A Dash Of "Brazil", A Bit Of "Pi", With "The Fountain" For Seasoning.

Gilliam is fond of including hommages in his films. In this one, I think he went a bit beyond that. Most of the visuals are echoes of "Brazil", though with 30 years of technology added (no need to create tiny cars--they're made everywhere now). The main character is virtually lifted from "Pi" and "The Fountain". For that matter, so is the black hole. And instead of Brazil's "Central Services", we have ManCom or, as shown more than once, "Corporations Sans Frontieres" (the last a very nice touch). And, also from "Brazil", hoses everywhere.

That said, this is not a copycat film. Given the subject matter, it's difficult to imagine it NOT including at least some similarities to other movies which have tread similar ground. I wasn't happy with the ending at first and still believe it somewhat out of tone with the rest of the film. Trying not to include any spoilers here, but does the hero "get the girl"? There are hints that allow one to speculate either way.

In that respect, "The Zero Theorem" is the opposite of "Brazil". The hero in "Brazil" dreams of a girl who he discovers actually exists, and takes on a job that he believes will help him find her, thus setting the entire story in motion. "The Zero Theorem"'s hero wants only to be allowed to work at home so he can be completely alone, but meets "the girl of his dreams" in reality (even though she was hired for the occasion and is only pretending--so is it reality?) and ultimately discovering that the only way he can "have" her (or for that matter, want her) is....in a state that might be reality and may not.

Brazil's hero ends up trapped into retreating into his dream. The Zero Theorem's literally takes the leap. Out of hope, or despair? We'll just have to think on that one a bit.



The last resort of one who cannot think is to argue that another cannot feel.