You'd think that with all the fuss over this film, it would contain some sort of stunning revelation. Perhaps we'll learn that Monty Python was actually controlledby the CIA as a front to undermine the British government, or maybe that Margaret Thatcher was really a woman. Instead, all we get is a limp farce about the dehumanization of life, which, to be honest, is hardly breaking news.

Director Terry Gilliam was the unseen member of Monty Python, responsible for the goofy animation interspersed between the comic bits. It would be great fun to ridicule this movie for its stuffy British qualities, but Gilliam isn't even British -- he's American! However, he's an expatriate, so "Brazil" is nonetheless a good opportunity for travelers to see how that country can utterly destroy your personality.

The story revolves around a snafu at the Ministry of Information, which targets a man named Tuttle (Robert De Niro), but mistakenly eliminates someone named Buttle. Ministry bureaucrat Sam (Jonathan Pryce) falls in love with the woman (Kim Griest) who tries to figure out where Buttle went. The best way to describe "Brazil" is "Dilbert on crack." If Dilbert smoked crack, this is the film he would see in his mind.

The proof that Terry Gilliam doesn't have the slightest idea what he's doing lies in the title, "Brazil." It has nothing to do with anything. It's like naming your cat "Cleveland." People would come over to your house and you'd say, "Here Cleveland!" and your cat would come over and give you a rub. People would ask why you named your cat that and you would say you had no idea. Then, of course, cat lovers around the world would hail you as a visionary genius.