Brazil (1985, GBR) C-143m. ***½ D: Terry Gilliam. Starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist, Jim Broadbent, Barbara Hicks, Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam. Outstanding science-fiction satire about desk clerk Pryce, who is a mere number in an overly complicated system of totalitarian bureaucracy. However, he is different. He has dreams of himself being a superhero and a mysterious woman, who suddenly materializes in the form of Helmond, a possible rebel and threat to the system. The hapless clerk sets out to find her and goes on an odyssey through office-block mazes and bleak city alleys. Gilliam's own version of George Orwell's 1984 is a visually astounding film, whose substance is made up of countless small wonders, which hold the unreal plot together. Less a traditional science-fiction film a la BLADE RUNNER (1982) - which it ostensibly quotes - but social fiction. Not all of the grotesque, bizarre sequences can escape their 80s origin, but you can't help but marvel at them. Works best as a display of Gilliam's creative world. It brings his MONTY PYTHON roots to maturity. Scripted by Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown. Photographed by Roger Pratt. Excellent score by Michael Kamen. Also shown in edited versions.