The Whole World Reminds Me of the Restaurant Scene in Brazil

Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece feels too real

Sam Lowry — played by Jonathan Pryce — is a bureaucrat in a dystopic society. He’s a mediocre cog in the machine, and he seems happy about it. He doesn’t want to move forward and, despite the insistence of his ridiculously vain mother, he doesn’t want a promotion. He hates his life and his job, but it could be worse…at least he doesn’t have that much responsibility.

However, every night, Sam has a dream. In it, he sees himself flying all over a vast field that brutally morphs into a city. And, above all, this is the only place where he gets to see the woman he loves, the literal woman of his dreams.

He could have gone on with his little pathetic life forever…but it all changed when his fantasy turned out to be a real woman called Jill.

Welcome…you have now entered Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

Taking the easy road.

However, our little story doesn’t begin with Sam. Instead, in Brazil (1985), we first learn about a terrorist named Tuttle who, due to a “bug,” gets confused with Buttle, an ordinary family man.

And this how Sam gets involved in this whole ordeal. Turns out Jill, his dreamt woman, is Buttle’s neighbor, and she will do everything in her power to help him. Sam cannot resist and gets sucked into this bureaucratic mess.

The problem is, the government will never accept they got the wrong person. It is just way easier to keep an innocent man in jail, torture him and eventually murder him.

As we follow Sam and Jill’s useless fight against this 1984 style governmental machinery, we don’t know whether to laugh or cry at such levels of ineptitude and cruelty. Yes, there is seemingly advanced technology all around, but it makes little difference in a world where a human life full of emotions has no value.

In this society, you are to care about the way you look, your job title, and just exactly how many people you control. Yeah, I’m still talking about the movie…

Time for a fancy dinner.

And then comes that restaurant scene…which is a painfully accurate portrayal of the current state of affairs in our society.

It all begins as Sam agrees to have lunch with his mother, still trying to convince her he is not interested in a promotion. Once there, he notices she has set him up to be on a date with her best friend's daughter. Annoyed, he has no choice but to stay.

Then we get to see the “delicious” food: a sort of flavored puree. It might contain all of the nutrients, and it might taste like the real thing, but it’s basically food stripped away of all of its beauty. Gastronomy, it seems, is just another thing that has been taken away from people who must now be content with a disgusting placeholder.

After that, we get to witness a terrorist attack.

There had been a few other explosions until this point in the movie, but this one is special because of how the characters react.

You see, once the bomb goes off, people end up on the floor, some of them bleeding. However, they all quickly dust themselves off and carry on as usual. The waiters keep on tending to the customers, people keep on eating, musicians keep on entertaining, all conversations go back just to where they left off.

Nothing to see here, fellas. Everything is cool, don’t worry about it.

This doesn’t feel like fiction anymore.

I don’t remember just exactly when I saw Brazil for the first time. Still, for some reason, I always found that particular scene fascinating and, since last year — the forever infamous 2020 — I have been thinking about it endlessly.

I think I have finally figured out why.

It doesn’t feel like fiction anymore. People actually do that: they see pain, blood, and suffering and carry on with their day as if nothing. Keep the fancy music going, keep gorging on the fake food, stay immersed in the empty conversations. It doesn’t matter what is happening around us; after all, we are safe. This suffering cannot touch us; why should we even care?

I know, I know…no one can fix everything. We can only do so much. Still, one thing is to acknowledge our human limitations, and another one is to disregard our fellow humans' predicament.

We see it in the people who refuse to wear a simple mask to protect others. On those who mock vaccines and safety measures. On those who turn their gaze away from injustice and refuse to take a stand.

They want to keep their fancy dinner going…

Tragedy or Comedy?

The final scene in Brazil, which I won’t spoil for you because you have to see it, will forever remain one of the best endings in cinematic history.

However, I can say this: you will look at it and then spend a few minutes wondering whether or not you are in a Brazil of your own making. Maybe you are a fool in love like Sam. Maybe you have dreams of flying away too. Maybe you have hope. Or maybe you live in a world as heartless as the one Sam has found himself trapped into, and you haven’t even noticed.

Does Brazil have a happy ending, or is it a bleak one? Is this movie a dark, twisted comedy or a cruel tragedy? Ask anybody you want. You’ll never get the same answer.

In the end, I guess it all depends on your personal definition of heaven and hell.