The war Terry Gilliam waged with Universal studio boss Sid Sheinberg over the editing and release of 'Brazil' is a battle Hollywood will never forget. If you're not familiar with the backstabbing, betrayals and squabbling that went on, don't feel left out, because a made-for-laser documentary encapsulates the entire "Battle of Brazil" from beginning to end.
And that end is this long-in-the-waiting release of Terry Gilliam's "final, final cut" of 'Brazil', the 142-minute version that Gilliam feels represents his true version of the film. It's 11 minutes longer than the version Universal reluctantly released in 1985, featuring scenes -- some minor, a few major -- that mass American audiences never got to see -- Universal's legal red tape stipulated that it was illegal for the longer "international" cut to be exhibited in America. So the fact that Universal finally gave clearance for the longer version to be released in laserdisc in America is a victory all in itself.
The Criterion Collection's glorious special edition of 'Brazil' is worth celebrating. It's for special edition packages like 'Brazil' that we laserphiles bought laserdisc players in the first place.
First off, the box art is gorgeous, using a release campaign that I haven't seen since 1985 (Sam -- it's supposed to represent Sam, anyway -- flying out of a gigantic wall of file-cabinet drawers).
The movie, of course, is the celebrated 142-minute version. It's letterboxed (1.85:1), having been remastered under Gilliam's watchful eye. The picture is amazing -- the best I've ever seen the film look. The matting of the 1.85:1 image reveals nothing extra to the sides of the image as compared to the previous full-frame transfer; it merely masks out extraneous visual information at the top and bottom of the frame. Some people have complained about this, since the masking inherently blocks out information. But since this 1.85:1 image is how the film was projected in theaters, and it is how Gilliam intended the film to be viewed, who are we to argue?
The stereo surround sound is terrific, too. 'Brazil' was produced long before the era of digital sound and there are comparatively fewer bombastic effects and directional separations than in the average special-effects film of today; but the soundtrack is nevertheless quite impressive.
The program covers five discs, 10 sides. Sides 1-6 are in CAV; sides 7-10 in CLV. The film is spread across 6 sides of 3 discs, all in CAV. One side break is a bit abrupt, but the other four are -- remarkably -- well timed and seem like natural pauses.
After the movie on side 6, the gargantuan supplementary section begins. Trailer, stills, background on production design, storyboards of every dream sequence, special effects, development of the script, props, and just about everything else that involved the making of the film.
On side 7, more info about the costumes; the screenwriters and their various evolutions of the original story treatment; Michael Kamen's score and his musical inspirations; and a 30-minute documentary 'What is Brazil?' that was made in 1985. Included are 10-year-old interviews with cast and crew, and this offers the viewer an ironic sense of perspective, because the filmmakers' opinions of the movie were captured well before the red-hot war over the movie even began. The documentary also features a brief glimpse and a detailed description of the deleted "eyeball" dream sequence.
On side 8 is a made-for-laser documentary 'The Battle of Brazil: A Video History' by Jack Matthews (the author of the fascinating but out-of-print -- dammit! -- book "The Battle of Brazil"), which looks back at the tumultuous history of the making and marketing of 'Brazil' and the legendary fight between Gilliam and Sheinberg (appropriately nick-named "The Butcher of Brazil" by fans of the film) over the editing and distribution of the film. Hats off to the Universal brass -- clearly made out to be the villains in this fight -- by agreeing to be interviewed; and a lot of credit should also go to Sheinberg for allowing 1985 audio interviews of himself and Jack Matthews to be used (Sheinberg, no longer the de facto studio head now that Seagrams has bought-out MCA/Universal, declined to be interviewed for this documentary).
Then -- and here's why the price of this package was increased from $125 to $150 after the final release announcement -- an entire disc is devoted to an alternate version of the film, called the 'Love Conquers All' version. This is the 94-minute cut Sheinberg hired two editors to crank out, behind Gilliam's back and without the director's knowledge or approval -- with drastic cuts and a happy ending. The laserdisc liner notes diplomatically state that the inclusion of this maligned version -- created to streamline the film and make it more accessible to a mainstream audience -- stands as a "fascinating document to the power of editing to change a picture." A blunt translation should read like so: "this version will forever stand as a testament to Sheinberg's arrogance and ignorance, an example of the power of editing to muck-up a movie completely beyond recognition."
Though this shortened version made its way to TV, most 'Brazil' fans have never had the opportunity to see it. As Criterion has utilized a literal TV print here, there are artificial fade-outs for commercials throughout and the profanity has been dubbed over. This version is also presented in monaural and it's not letterboxed; the picture quality is light years behind the remastered director's cut (the image is fuzzy and it's way too dark).
It's curious that critics in 1985 who didn't necessarily like Gilliam's reluctant 131-minute theatrical cut actually sided with Sheinberg, because they assumed that since they didn't like the theatrical cut, then Sheinberg's version was better by default. They deduced that Gilliam's war was based only on the hubris of the renegade filmmaker. Now 'Brazil' fans can decide for themselves who was right and who was wrong; they can finally decide which version of 'Brazil' is better.
There are two running commentaries: Gilliam narrates over his movie and, as with his commentaries on 'Baron Munchausen', 'The Fisher King' and 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', his venomous, candid remarks are humorous and enlightening, offering fascinating production gossip and illuminating revelations of plot and character motivation. Then the butchered version features an audio annotation by Gilliam expert David Morgan. Morgan points out the many differences in the shortened version, with entire sequences deleted, other scenes truncated and/or presented out of sequence, and some alternate scenes utilizing previously unused footage. Most fascinating is the subliminal effect the unintended use of close-ups in new alternate footage has in strengthening the heroism of Sam and how it brings characters "closer" to the viewer - - which is the opposite from what Gilliam was trying to stress with his cold long shots, showing people dwarfed by their vast surroundings. Furthermore, an alternate version of a key scene with Jonathan Pryce and Michael Palin strips the Palin character of all trace of humanity by editing "around" his young daughter's presence in the room with them. This is only one example of how, explains Morgan, altered scenes in this different version completely change character motivations, lend characters heroic traits Gilliam never intended and eliminate human quirks and qualities that Gilliam was aiming to reveal. The inclusion of this second version of 'Brazil' is monumental and it is only with this vital "audio-visual aid" that the viewer can fully appreciate the gist of the fight over the movie.
There are rumored to be nearly 300 film canisters scattered throughout American and European vaults that may contain even more 'Brazil' footage, but the time that would have been needed for preservationists to locate them all and then go through the footage for inclusion in this laserdisc -- assuming any footage could be found and that it would be in suitable condition -- would have added more expense and made production of this laserdisc take at least another year or two. This is addressed during one of the interviews. Nevertheless, devout fans will most certainly be satisfied at the bounty of 'Brazil' extras offered herein.
With the still-frame archive, the two audio essays, the making-of documentaries, the new interviews and the inclusion of a completely different version of the movie, the supplementary section of 'Brazil' is the most thorough, exhaustively-researched and assembled laser scrapbook I've ever seen. And the motion-animation computer-generated graphics Criterion has concocted to introduce the individual supplemental chapters are also very cool.
This is an "event" laserdisc if ever there was one. Worth $150? You bet! Criterion's 'Brazil' is going to be heralded as one of the most important laserdisc special editions for years to come.
Vital statistics: The Criterion Collection; 5 discs, 10 sides; CAV/CLV; Widescreen (1.85:1); Stereo Surround; Chapter stops; $149.95
S. Damien Segal.
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