It is no wonder, that this film is required viewing in film schools everywhere. When you look at the original source material, based off of George Orwell's 1949 novel, the time the film was released and the way the production was assembled, there are many different, intriguing things going on here. The novel came out only four years after the end of World War II. Fresh on the minds of the general public, the book utilized the totalitarian ideals of Nazi Germany. With the Cold War just starting as well, the book also highlighted the misguided concepts of Stalin's Russia too. George Orwell modeled his book with something people could identify with in real-life. It is a basic principal found in all story-telling. Take something that happened in our real-world history and modify it, so that it fits into your story. Being that it was 1949, the book is a story about our future-Earth, in this case 1984. This creates a whole new set of interesting thoughts to consider, being that we can now look at this film from a 21st century point of view. So, instead of being terrified by a possible future, we can now go back and ponder, what those from the past, imagined what world we could be living in today and the relief, that they were way off.
I saw this film for the first time in film-school back in 1991 and haven't had the chance to catch it again, until recently, just a mere 30 years later. It does have a different feeling to it today then it did back in 1991. Seeing it the first time, just seven years after its initial release was more of a study in film theory, but today it has more of a feeling of history to it, albeit a history that never happened. The totalitarian, repressive government, that the people in this film have to face, is definitely something we don't want to ever see happen. The government's main goal is to suppress free thought, sexual freedoms and surveillance is everywhere. There is no freedom or privacy in this world of 1984. You actually could be executed for thought crimes or sexual/breeding crimes. If they tell you the sky is pink, you better believe it. They don't even subscribe to the Law of Gravity. Ok, maybe there are some things we can relate to today, that are found in this story.
This brings me to the cast of characters found in the film. This is a meticulously made film, that moves at the pace of a book. It needs to be careful not to miss important details, so that the film ends up being successful. What the film does, in order to keep the slow pace working, are the performances by the excellent cast. This is a British production, so some of the best actors from the UK show up in this film. Taking the lead is John Hurt as Winston Smith. In his attempt to avoid getting in trouble with the "Thought Police", Winston keeps a job at the Ministry of Truth. Yep! He's rewriting history. He meets a woman named Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), who is a free thinker and after an interesting courtship, they fall in love. We learn that those not totally with the government are part of the Outer Party. Those in the government are the Inner Party. Eventually, with all the craziness going on in this world, Winston and Julia find, that their very existence is in jeopardy, just because they want to be together, living their lives. That is not what the government wants from its citizens. They want total rule.
On the other side of the equation is another acting great, Mr. Elizabeth Taylor himself, Richard Burton, who plays O'Brien. O'Brien works for the Thought Police, who Winston realizes is not a person like himself, but actually is a high ranking officer of the Inner Party. O'Brien is the instrument of Winston and Julia's worst fears, even though he too once was like them, but as he says to Winston, "they caught me a long time ago". Also on the bad guys side, channeling the same totalitarian energy he generates in the film Fahrenheit 451 (1966), is Cyril Cusack as Mr. Charrington. Charrington is an undercover agent of the Thought Police, who uses a pawn shop as his cover. He pops in every now-and-then to spy on those who go against the government. Cusack brings that excellent quality of acting, that shows us what a weaselly, scum would be like in a dystopian future.
Finally, the historical impact of this film, either in the real-world or film history, is something to understand when watching this film. The principle photography was done in London, during the same months of 1984, that the film takes place. Releasing the film in 1984 was an interesting play, because it creates this linear mood, mirroring the current day concept of multiple time-lines. It is, kind of, a dark London universe if you will and works even better today in the 21st century. Tragedy would strike shortly after filming was complete when Richard Burton died prematurely, at the age of 56, two months before the release of this film. Director, Michael Radford, creates this grim, dirty, horrifyingly tasty adaptation of a novel, that has ingrained itself into the pop-culture lexicon. The book and the film gave us the concept ideas of Big Brother is watching you, so behave yourself. One other added delight to this film, is the fact that, the Eurythmics do the soundtrack. Instead of worrying about pacing and time, just sit back and try to digest the visuals coming at you from the big screen.
7.5 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.
I saw this film for the first time in film-school back in 1991 and haven't had the chance to catch it again, until recently, just a mere 30 years later. It does have a different feeling to it today then it did back in 1991. Seeing it the first time, just seven years after its initial release was more of a study in film theory, but today it has more of a feeling of history to it, albeit a history that never happened. The totalitarian, repressive government, that the people in this film have to face, is definitely something we don't want to ever see happen. The government's main goal is to suppress free thought, sexual freedoms and surveillance is everywhere. There is no freedom or privacy in this world of 1984. You actually could be executed for thought crimes or sexual/breeding crimes. If they tell you the sky is pink, you better believe it. They don't even subscribe to the Law of Gravity. Ok, maybe there are some things we can relate to today, that are found in this story.
This brings me to the cast of characters found in the film. This is a meticulously made film, that moves at the pace of a book. It needs to be careful not to miss important details, so that the film ends up being successful. What the film does, in order to keep the slow pace working, are the performances by the excellent cast. This is a British production, so some of the best actors from the UK show up in this film. Taking the lead is John Hurt as Winston Smith. In his attempt to avoid getting in trouble with the "Thought Police", Winston keeps a job at the Ministry of Truth. Yep! He's rewriting history. He meets a woman named Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), who is a free thinker and after an interesting courtship, they fall in love. We learn that those not totally with the government are part of the Outer Party. Those in the government are the Inner Party. Eventually, with all the craziness going on in this world, Winston and Julia find, that their very existence is in jeopardy, just because they want to be together, living their lives. That is not what the government wants from its citizens. They want total rule.
On the other side of the equation is another acting great, Mr. Elizabeth Taylor himself, Richard Burton, who plays O'Brien. O'Brien works for the Thought Police, who Winston realizes is not a person like himself, but actually is a high ranking officer of the Inner Party. O'Brien is the instrument of Winston and Julia's worst fears, even though he too once was like them, but as he says to Winston, "they caught me a long time ago". Also on the bad guys side, channeling the same totalitarian energy he generates in the film Fahrenheit 451 (1966), is Cyril Cusack as Mr. Charrington. Charrington is an undercover agent of the Thought Police, who uses a pawn shop as his cover. He pops in every now-and-then to spy on those who go against the government. Cusack brings that excellent quality of acting, that shows us what a weaselly, scum would be like in a dystopian future.
Finally, the historical impact of this film, either in the real-world or film history, is something to understand when watching this film. The principle photography was done in London, during the same months of 1984, that the film takes place. Releasing the film in 1984 was an interesting play, because it creates this linear mood, mirroring the current day concept of multiple time-lines. It is, kind of, a dark London universe if you will and works even better today in the 21st century. Tragedy would strike shortly after filming was complete when Richard Burton died prematurely, at the age of 56, two months before the release of this film. Director, Michael Radford, creates this grim, dirty, horrifyingly tasty adaptation of a novel, that has ingrained itself into the pop-culture lexicon. The book and the film gave us the concept ideas of Big Brother is watching you, so behave yourself. One other added delight to this film, is the fact that, the Eurythmics do the soundtrack. Instead of worrying about pacing and time, just sit back and try to digest the visuals coming at you from the big screen.
7.5 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.