Brazil is a vision of a future where totalitarianism is rooted in fundamental and hilarious incompetence. A series of minor mistakes and petty sabotages takes an extremely average functionary from normal life to nightmarish (and unintentional) ruin. But Gilliam, in his heart a visual stylist, also created a new design language for retro-futuristic fascism — take Nineteen Eighty-Four, have Fritz Lang film it, and replace the rat in the cage with Bugs Bunny. If you want a picture of the future, says Brazil, imagine receiving an IRS audit notice with the wrong last name, forever.