The overall plot was clear: Brazil was trying to live up to some ideal of itself, vis-a-vis the Pope in particular.
Perhaps it's only in English that BOPE and Pope sound so similar.
I'd say there's an element of parody here, in having all the rich and privileged sitting around talking about Foucault.
I'm more in the Nobby lineage in supposing ethnicities have a right to their medications, but when the heritage is so thin, much of their power is lost anyway. Some drugs just exaggerate predispositions. In war, you might want uppers and speed.
We live in a world without doctors, statistically speaking (translate "doctors" however you will).
The film is pointing out that the ethics and motivations are just too twisted to make much sense.
As an audience, we're invited to study the pain and suffering, dramatized for our benefit and education.
I got this from Movie Madness because our Brazilian friends at OSCON were saying this film seemed to capture a lot of the culture as they experienced it. I'd seen a couple others with Brazil their setting.
