Directed by Monty Python’s very own Terry Gilliam, Brazil comes the closest to capturing the mood and scope of George Orwell’s 1984 than most adaptations. It is an extremely weird movie, revolving around a restless bureaucrat who falls in love with a “terrorist” and struggles to distance himself from an increasingly dysfunctional government. The movie requires multiple views to fully understand, but even on the surface, there’s no denying that there is anything like it.
The original Brazil poster depicts the angelic knight that occupies Sam Lowry’s fantasy, so I didn’t want to go there. Instead, I wanted to depict Lowry as a small, faceless figure because that’s pretty much what he is for a huge chunk of the film. The scene where he gets promoted and assigned to his office really stuck in my mind because he’s immediately overwhelmed by what looks like an endless corridor of offices, so that’s what I wanted to include. The angelic aspect is still there, but it serves more as a metaphor for his desire to escape than the full-blown knight we see in Lowry’s fantasy.
Crafting a Brazil poster was an enjoyable experience; hell, I feel like watching it right now. If you haven’t seen it already, I advise you to do the same.
