The main gist of the film is a single Administritive error gets Harry Buttle arrested on Christmas day and then killed for illegal maintenence on heating fixtures. This is all due to a single fly in the printing room causing the T to be a B. So of course when this is discovered that it was the wrong man, the department has to fix things before it gets to the higher ups.
The head of the lower down department is quite useless when it comes to anything involving computers or sorting things out so he calls to Sam Lowry to help with the matter. A technical wiz, even if he downplays his skills, assists with everythign and is told he can be promoted if he wants. Being the modest man, disliking most of the work he does and the environment hes in, denies it and sticks to his easy job. As he meanders through life he dreams of escape, grass and freedom from technology and the city. Sam is a form of angelic knight, able to fly and is always saving a certain girl from any dangers that might befall her. A complete contrast to his normal life where he blends in, being as meager as possible just to get through life hoping his dreams will come true.
On with the story, in an effort to correct the error by the department, Jill, the Buttles neighbour, tries to file an error report but is being given the run around by being told to go to two different places to get a form filled out. This girl is the one from Sam's dreams, albeit she does not have the long damsel-in-distress hair, and he frantically looks around to find her but alas she is not there. He carries on through security and meets one of his old friends, Jack, who know works in the department above him. Jack urges Sam to take the promotion yet he once again declines especially since he has to fix the Buttle mess. Later that day, he drives out to the Buttle household to personally deliver compensation money to the family. However he is attacked by the distressed son. In a daze he notices the hole in the ceiling and sees Jill looking through. He is overjoyed and dashes aroudn the apartments to find her deluded by love. Once again she is gone driving off in her large jeep. Lowry gives chase in his little company car, probably the most determined hes ever been in his life.
Unable to convince her to love him back, he returns home to find two of the official heating engineers destroying his repaired home and later on, they claim it as their own until repairs are done, meaning never. A day or so after that Harry Tuttle, switches the oxygen pipes and the sewage pipes, thus flooding the engineers suits with sewage and drowning them and consequently exploding over the entire apartment. A prime example of Tuttles renegade nature and his sense of humour too. That same night, Jill appears to Sam for help. At this point she is suspected of setting the bombs around the city that have happened recently. A slight crack of weakness in Jills constant hard of nails personality. Sam of course promises to help her out. He appeals to get his promotion into Information Retrieval in order to see and change Jill's file to Deceased. It is a few days prior that he discovers his friend Jack is the man responsible for disposing of criminals and Buttle of course.
Following a truck chase through the city, Sam and Jill are inevitably captured, then released and able to spend their one night of loving passion together. Luckily this wasn't a gratuitous scene of sex *cough*underworld*cough*. Sam believes that he has finally fulfilled his dreams and rescued the girl of his dreams and they can live happily ever after however they are awoken the next morning with paratroopers tearing into the room, much like the same as Buttles arrest. The soldiers have probably done this so many times they can run it off perfectly.
In the cell, Lowry is confronted by the president of the company and told that Jill is dead. Sam realises that this is only because he changed the records the other night. As a viewer you feel happy that she is still alive only to be told "Well it seems she died twice". Quite breaking when you know that Lowry's world has now collapsed and he is sitting in a stupidly large room, rocket silo size, strapped into the single chair ready to be tortured by Jack. Sam pleads to be released and not tortured however it falls on deaf ears and JAck begins. Fortunately Tuttle, and the rest of the illegal heating engineers (bizarre heroes) abseil down the stupidly large walls to save Sam. They escape the building suffering many casualties but manage to get to the borders of the city. Strangely Tuttle is surrounded by newspapers and somehow consumed by them, then breaks into his mothers friends funeral. His mother looks about 34 and is chatting up all the waiters there uncaring that Sam is in the room too. Paratroopers break in from both sides surrounding the room but Lowry falls through the coffin and into the truck of Jill. Estactic that she is still alive, they drive off into the sunset for their happily ever after, safe from pursuers.
To which the camera fades back to the stupidly large room. Lowry still sitting there, a hole through the middle of his forehead, singing the main theme to the film.
A very powerful ending especially since you are lead to believe for 10-15 minutes that he does escape and gets the girl. Alas, in a technological society, there is no way that a Heating Engineer renegade is going to be able to save you every time.
Lowry is added to the list of those arrested, and taken care of by Jack. A great film, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But why the baby masks? They're just freaky.
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