The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
Imdb
Date Watched: 02/22/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching:15th Hall of Fame, nominated by @jiraffejustin
Rewatch: No.
Joseph Merrick was a man with severe physical deformities who was exhibited in freak shows in the 1880s, billed as "The Elephant Man." He was befriended by a surgeon named Frederick Treves who documented his condition and offered him care and lodging at the London Hospital. The film entitled
The Elephant Man tells his story... sort of...
...and it didn't do a very good job of it, in my opinion. I realize that this film was perhaps at least influenced by the play of the same name rather than totally on the real Joseph Merrick (both the film and the play call him John Merrick, though I read somewhere that the misnomer was the fault of Dr. Treves's writings) and normally historical inaccuracies don't bother me, but I must admit it bothered me here. I feel like the film needlessly made Merrick out to be more of a victim than he really was and, frankly, this portrayal of Merrick here made him seem less than human. I don't mean that in reference to his deformities or to the way in which the others in the film treated him, but rather in reference to his own behavior. I very much had trouble buying that a man who suffered that much cruelty (according to the film anyway, there's nothing that I've read about the real Merrick that would suggest that his exhibition as a freak was not by his own choice or that any promoter was physically abusive to him), and who was in full possession of his mental faculties, would be so utterly devoid of anger or bitterness.
Which is not to say that there was anything lacking in the performances. John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins did well enough with the characters they were given, but the exaggerated situations and the characters' reactions to them just didn't click with me. The result was that the delivery of the film's message of acceptance and charity just didn't strike a chord and by the time we hear Merrick cry "I'm not an animal! I am a human being!," I was too disinterested to care.
I should give praise though for the look of the film. The prosthetics and make up, costuming, set and prop design, and the cinematography were all very good, but overall the film just didn't work for me.
+