yeah, ian holm as mr. kurtzmann in terry gilliam's semi-futuristic semi-moralistic semi-cautionary tale semi-orwellian rip-off semi-masterpeice 'brazil.' yeah, the amazing sets, the wild inventive costumes, the haunting thinly-veiled warnings of invasive public policies... (cranking gesture) hey, don't get me wrong, i really don't mean to 'bag on' 'brazil,' its clearly an excellently-staged and well-crafted piece of cinema, but i seem to always be struck by little things in the movie that tend to slip by most reviewers. for instance, i think ian holm's role is largely overlooked. its widely cited that sam lowry (jonathan pryce) is the 'everyman' in the movie, the character that's supposed to stand for 'us,' but i think most of us are far more like ian holm's 'kurtzmann.' he's a good company man, who does his tedious little cog-wheel job day in and day out, one eye on the Clock, without it even occurring to him to dream or complain, a man who takes home just enough of a paycheck to keep him cowed, and with not enough imagination to suspect conspiracies. if it weren't for dozens of kurtzmanns, the Ministry couldn't operate nearly as efficiently as it appears to. i think the film is, at times, genuinely terrifying. but the ending...yeesh! the ending feels like terry gilliam had been fucking me gloriously for almost two solid hours, and just before the climax, he lost his erection. such a let-down.
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