BECOMING THE MONSTER

“Eaten or consumed by paperwork” - That is one of the representative images from “Brazil” (1985), directed by Terry Gilliam and edited by Julian Doyle. It is seen happening to fugitive Harry Tuttle, however, the edit of the shots and their resulting relationship assists the making of another victim to this fate: protagonist Sam Lowry. As both characters flee from the authorities, they come to be separated frame-wise and become reverse coverages in the point of view observing the scene. 

Papers fly around the streets as we stay on Tuttle, when something holds him by the foot. The latter is revealed to be a thick piece of paper when we cut to his lower body, and his struggle is represented by cutting back and forth between these two shots. Papers continue almost paste themselves in his body. A medium shot with a figure crossing camera suggests Tuttle can be seen, but nobody stops to help him. We finally pick up on Sam escaping, and then back to Tuttle. The camera finds Sam, hiding behind a neon structure, as he notices his ally in trouble. The wide shot that follows, showing Tuttle falling to the ground is established as Sam’s point of view, an association reinforced by the shot/reverse shot between the two. 

As Michael Kamen’s repetitive melody takes over most of the soundtrack, the picture cuts back and stays on Sam, who rushes across three shots until he comes to share the frame again with Tuttle, fully covered in paper. With this, the protagonist inserts himself into the view he was having and interacts with the malevolent force, as he begins pulling the papers out. A closer shot, taking Tuttle’s silhouette out of the frame, isolates Sam as the only one dealing with papers, and the following, bird’s-eye-view wider shot confirms that, with Tuttle completely gone. The loop has closed, as if Sam has been observing himself the whole time. With this awareness comes that of the citizens, of all kinds and all ages, looking upon him with condemnation, whether for creating disorder, or rebelling against it.

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