Where is our world heading?  On the one hand we are ending the bleakest century in recorded history.  The slaughter in Rwanda and Kosovo, the unabated disintegration of families and the detestable disparity between rich and poor.  Is there hope?  There ar some signs: electronic communication, cures through medicine and surgery, and the birth of justice and peace in places that have known only dictatorial opression.

Terry Gilliam, the director and one of the writers of Brazil doesn't seem to hold much hope for the world.  In his retro-future we see a frightening exaggeration of mindless bureaucracy, viciously destructive government involvement and boredom.   In a masterful way, Gilliam presents this bleak vision of the world with a delightfully dark humor.  The last scene of the film with its incongruous light and clouds was a last minute demand of Universal who somewhat reluctantly took on the job of distribution. They demanded Gilliam show some vestige of hope for the future.

But there is deep hope in the motion picture: the love between the characters played by Jonathan Pryce and Katherine Helmond overcomes the film's hellishly apocalyptic force.  The armed insurrection, craftily led by Robert De Niro’s character,  triumphs over bumbling bureaucracy.   Love and insurrection?   Now that's a religious solution to a seemingly hopeless situation.

Fr. Michael Manning.  A priest of a missionary congregation (the Society of the Divine Word), Fr. Manning's communications ministry is dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospels to the world.  The founder of Wordnet Productions, Fr. Mike is seen in over 110 million homes across America in his program The Word in the World. 

Discussion Panelists  (Nov. 6 screening only):  Jim Krueger, Dr. Robert Banks, Rev. Michael A. Russo