Director
Terry Gilliam
Leading Actors/Actresses
Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmund, Kim Greist
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Robert De Niro, Peter Vaughan, Michael Palin, Ian Holm
Genre
Drama Sci-Fi
Language
English
Awards
Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Date of Release
1985
Producer
Arnon Milchan
Setting and Context
An alternate consumer-driven dystopian world
Narrator and Point of View
Sam Lowry
Tone and Mood
Satirical, Dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists are Sam and Jill. Antagonist is the Ministry and everyone working for it.
Major Conflict
The Ministry has mistakenly killed a man named Buttle instead of correctly capturing Tuttle and Sam finds out.
Climax
Sam helps Jill to escape persecution of the Ministry and they make love, but are captured. Jill is killed and Sam loses his mind during torture.
Foreshadowing
Tuttle's name being changed to Buttle in the opening foreshadows that there will be trouble ahead.
Understatement
Sam's father and his role in the ministry are understated.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Gilliam used 9.8 mm lens to film parts of the movie. It was a major innovation as it was one of the first lenses of it's kind to shoot that wide without distorting the image to a fisheye.
Allusions
The little girl sitting on Santa's lap asks for a credit card for Christmas. It's an allusion to a society where debt is what gives you buying power.
Paradox
Lowry gets a promotion but paradoxically does not want it.
Parallelism
The scene where the Ministry busts through the ceiling over Sam and Jill in bed parallels the seen of them busting in to take Buttle captive.
