Zeitgeiiiiist, la la lala la la la la

I fall in the first category. Sadly, I think the Gilliam film is the ultimate source for the meaning of the song as a worker’s lament/promise of freedom: the lyrics certainly have nothing to do with that theme – and there are Ary Barroso songs aimed much more along those lines (e.g. “Falta um Zero no Meu Ordenado” – there’s a zero missing from my salary). Perhaps it bespeaks a breezy kind of indifference to the grind of the factory, or perhaps its driving rhythm and Xavier Cugat associations remind Americans of the wartime acceleration of US industrial production.

Actually it’s quite a lovely tune and quite upbeat, although my favorite of his is Na Baixa do Sapateiro.

Getoffmeland:

Here’s one energetic version by Daniela Mercury and a rather typically low-key version by Joao Gilberto.

I remember reading that Gilliam got the idea for the film in a cold and cloudy day at beach in England. There was a family doing a picnic and the the family’s car radio was playing “Aquarela do Brazil”. The contrast between the melancholic atmosphere and the vivid music fired Gilliam’s inspiration. Or at least that’s the story that appeared at brazilian newspapers.

The use of “Aquarela” caused kind of a stir here in Brazil since brazilians weren’t used to associate that music to dystopic feelings. For quite a long time I had an argument with a friend that couldn’t be convinced that Gilliam had not made the film just from concerns with Brazil’s situation at the time (the last breath of military rule).

_Tideland_ was awful, by the way. Too much of trying to be weird w/o enough of anything else to hold it together. Not Gilliam’s best work by far.

Actually, the English lyrics in the Gilliam film were a bastardized verision. See:

http://daniellathompson.com/ary/lista.html

It is a fascinating song; I frequently hum it — I wonder if I do it only when performing mind-numbing tasks.

For those of you who consume meta-film, see _Lost in La Mancha_, the documentary of Gilliam’s failed effort to make Don Quixote. It is almost as interesting as _Hearts of Darkness: A Film-makers Apocalypse_.

_Brother’s Grimm_ got panned but I have not seen it, so I don’t know. Apparently, the Weinstein Bros.’ meddled a bit. Gilliam has not had a bone fide hit since _Twelve Monkeys_ but he seems to work better when he has better writers on board — Tom Stoppard helped w/ Brazil.

Yeah, I found the reference, by the mouth of Gilliam lui-même:

““Port Talbot [in Wales] is a steel town, where everything is covered with gray iron ore dust. Even the beach is completely littered with dust, its just black. The sun was setting, and it was quite beautiful. The contrast was extraordinary, I had this image of a guy sitting there on this dingy beach with a portable radio, tuning in these strange Latin escapist songs like ‘Brazil’. The music transported him somehow and made his world less gray.”

http://www.ooyay.com/theoriesandthings/?p=11

OK, that´s not quite what I wrote down here, but decently close. Gimme a break, I´m an old man. :)

BTW, you must find that difficult to believe, but most brazilians can´t discern very well between Wales and England. At least at a distance. :))

You found the _first_ part of tidelands “over the top” but not the rest, Alex? The first part is not too far from some people’s lives I’ve known. The rest, thankfully far from anything I’m likely to ever see.