Now that communism has bitten the dust in most parts of the world, Americans can turn more attention to another universally loathed enemy:
bureaucrats.
They`re everywhere-the post office, traffic court, the board of elections, the CTA, hospitals, schools-and seem to thrive no matter what political system is in force. Since fighting city hall in real life is usually a losing proposition, solace for those suffering from red tape overload can be found at video stores, where a number of movies detail how celluloid anti-heroes have fought bureaucracy.
”Catch 22” (1970) stars Alan Arkin as Yossarian, a World War II fighter pilot who is trying to escape further combat by getting authorities to label him insane. The insurmountable ”catch” is the military logic which dictates that, by definition, anyone who wants to avoid warfare is not crazy. Yossarian fails in his efforts to beat the system, while the amoral profiteer Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight) succeeds by circumventing the rules altogether.
”One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest” (1975) takes place in a mental institution where Nurse Ratchett (Louise Fletcher) has patients thoroughly intimidated until hellion Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is committed for incessant brawling. McMurphy rallies the inmates to resist the daily routine of medication, regulation and intimidation. This classic faceoff between rulemaker and rule breaker garnered Oscars for both Nicholson and Fletcher.
Nicholson also stars in ”Five Easy Pieces” (1970), which contains a famous scene in a diner that proves that bureaucratic thinking can thrive even in the most modest settings. Nicholson`s character asks for a side order of toast, only to be told that the restaurant doesn`t serve side orders. So he instructs the waitress to bring him a chicken salad sandwich, hold the chicken salad, hold the mayo, hold the tomato.
”Brazil” (1985) revolves around a clerical error from hell when a functionary in the futuristic Information Ministry (Jonathan Pryce) confuses the name Buttle for Tuttle, resulting in the execution of an innocent man. The real star here is The System itself, a dilapidated grid of pneumatic tubes which continually spews forth fluttering piles of paperwork.
”Cool Hand Luke” (1967), set in a Georgia prison farm, features a line of dialogue uttered from the mouth of ornery Boss Paul (Luke Askew) that has doubtless echoed in anti-bureaucratic minds a million times since: ”What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Paul Newman plays the title character, a stubborn nonconformist in jail for sawing off the tops of a row of parking meters. Luke repeatedly tries to escape from the prison farm, where inmates need permission for the slightest move.
Orson Welles` version of ”The Trial” (1963) retells Franz Kafka`s story of Joseph K. (Tony Perkins), a bank clerk hurled from one bureaucracy into another when he is arrested without ever being charged with a crime.
In ”1984” (1984), Big Brother regulations prohibit romantic entanglements, but Winston Smith (John Hurt), whose job it is to ”change history” for a government agency by altering newspaper articles, falls in love anyway.
In ”Missing” (1982), it`s the American foreign service that comes under fire. Based on true events that took place in Chile during the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende, ”Missing” features Jack Lemmon as American businessman Ed Horman, whose son has disappeared during a military coup. Accustomed to getting direct answers and quick results, Horman finds out, in one frustrating encounter after another, how evasive bureaucrats can be.
”Zero For Conduct” (1933), by French film director Jean Vigo, is the first and arguably the best of many movies to deal with bureaucrats in the school system. Here, four boys rebel against the pompous authority figures at their boarding school by tying one of their teachers to his bed and taking their flag to the rooftops.
The film`s surreal portrayal of school officials was thought so incendiary that it was banned from release by the French censorship board until after World War II.
