Quote:
Originally posted by martycoster
The contrast between these two worlds is what makes the film special for me - it represents both the worst and best of life, with a character yearning for better things, as most people are. It inspires the viewer to have dreams; to look around oneself and realise what could be changed in your environment to make things better.
And then, finally, it shocks us with unconventionality - sure, all that's really nice to dream about, but is it really possible to attain? Not in this film. Maybe not in this world.
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Great point! I also love the fact that the film doesn't have the pat happy Hollywood ending. I , for one, have never understood why films need to end on an up note. Life often doesn't (if you want to get REALLY pessimistic - it NEVER does).
I also love the fantasy vs reality in the film, but it makes me sad. Sam's fantasies are of trying to attain Jill, only to be thwarted by the giant buildings, and armies of faceless, nameless beaurocrats, or even Mr. Kurtzmann, as a stone monolith, holding Sam back, back in his job, back in his life. The reality is that Sam has this endaring love for Jill in his dreams, but until he sees her, he thinks that's the only place she lives. Jill isn't like the passive, floating girl in his dreams, needing saving. Both Sam and Jill are truly desperate characters, trying very hard to limit their own attachment to other humans in the world. Sam has repeatedly turned down promotions, preferring to be a mere cog in the machine. He keeps his distance from humanity, and his mothers attempts to advance his career and love life.
Jill has a job that keeps her alone. She drives a truck, obviously is not in a relationship of any kind, and though she knows her neighbors the Buttles, one can sense she is a loner. It takes her a very long time to accept Sam in her life.
I also feel that Michael Palin's performance of Jack Lint is often overlooked. His relaxed, proper, respectable man, who just happens to be a state torturer presents the perfect dichotomy. Love the man, hate what he does. Tom Stoppard wrote him as a real prick, but Gilliam insisted (rightly so), that he be a man you could like, and respect, as long as you didn't think about his job. His scene with Gilliam's daughter (as Lint's daughter), illustrates this perfectly.