Brazil

Sam Lowry, a low-ranking official at the Ministry of Information, occupies himself with collecting… information. About every citizen the government watches over – in an all too literal sense, because why shouldn’t the government see everyone as a potential terrorist?

Lowry’s work, and that of his millions of colleagues, is all about processing forms, following procedures in minute detail and palming off problems and mistakes to other departments. For example, erroneously switching the letters ‘t’ and ‘b’ in a name has disastrous consequences – which Lowry has to put right.

Paranoid civil servants

Back in 1985, Gilliam’s depiction with surreal touches of an out-of-control, Kafkaesque bureaucracy was seen as a warning of a world populated by paranoid civil servants monitoring the citizenry’s every move. Forty years later, this dystopia seems to have become reality: (digital) surveillance is omnipresent, as are accusations of terrorism.

Context

Screens at the première of Stranger Eyes, the latest film from Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua – a thoughtful thriller about living in front of ever-present cameras, from smartphones to scanners. Kiko Morah, programmer at Imagine Film Festival, will give a brief introduction (10’).

This supporting programme was put together by Dr Francesco Ragazzi, Associate Professor in International Relations at Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science.

Restored version

Restored in 4K in 2025 by The Criterion Collection at Company 3 laboratory, from the original 35mm camera negative. Restoration supervised by director Terry Gilliam.