The fabulous world of Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam's career is studded with hitches, both as failures and as attempts by producers to normalize his films. But the former Monty Python has never given up on his mission: to enhance the imagination through the visual and narrative power of cinema, without compromise. In this sense, Brazil is the best example.

Along the lines of 1984, Brazil (1985) gives a visionary satirical lesson on contemporary society by exploiting an impossible love story: Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), worn out by his work routine at the Ministry of Information, meets a woman who will trigger in him an epiphany, leading him to question the dystopian society in which he is forced to live.

The scenography intervenes to highlight the perverse morality of Sam's reality, designed for often aggressive contrasts, as happens, for example, in the representation of the metropolis: a bit vintage and a bit futuristic, rich in Sixties style technological equipment. The camera also contributes to distorting the set, arousing in the viewer that feeling of disgust typical of the director. On the contrary, during the dialogues the shooting is slow and soft, creating a dissonance with a tragicomic flavor, mirror of the protagonists' frustrated aspirations.

The visionary aspect disappears instead in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), who maintains only the virtuous special effects and the eccentric scenography of the director (think of the squalid caravans and the phantasmagoric world beyond the mirror). The tragic story of Heath Ledger, who disappeared during the filming, and the consequent addition of Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Johnny Depp to replace him made the film unique in its genre; a hymn to fantasy, now relegated to the margins of sad society.

Similarly, 12 Monkeys (1995) uses the science fiction strand to reflect on postmodern society, in particular on the madness that leads to escape from reality. This theme, already dear to Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Brazil), is taken to the extreme, so much so that the instinct to escape belongs not only to the characters, but is rooted in the same society: Terry Gilliam's vision is nothing more than a cry to urge contemporary mainstream cinema to tell visionary, crazy, unconventional stories.

Daniela Addea

This article was written under my tenure with 1977Magazine

Original Article Here