This has always been one of my favourites, so I have been meaning to watch it again.
From the opening scene, with the ad speaker talking about ducts, you are plunged into a chaotic world that is a wonderful mix of modern and retro. The ducts are all over the place in every scene. The main character Sam Lowry works at the Ministry of Information, which absorbs 60% of the GDP (which I think I overheard from a background newscast).
Starting with a literal computer bug, a letter on a form gets mistyped, setting off a logical sequential but absurd chain of events. The grim ending is of course inevitable from the start. The obvious echoes are 1984 and The Trial, but mixed up with Monty Python via Terry Gilliam.
I found that this movie has lost none of its relevancy, in fact quite the contrary. The parallels between the NSA and the Ministry of Information are obvious. There is also a scene when the jackboots crash into an apartment to arrest the dad, and the mother is screaming hysterically. She interrupts her screaming to sign the receipt for the arrest, and then resumes.