The Elephant Man

Heart-Rending and Timeless
"Time hath not altered" the emotional impact this movie has on me when I watch it. The word "poignant" has grown hackneyed from overuse, but it certainly applies to this great film. Few films can equal it in terms of dramatic artistry and pitch perfect performances. There's not one maudlin note in a film that could easily have descended into bathetic melodrama in lesser hands.

Lynch was practically a neophyte at the time he directed this movie, yet to many (and to most, for that matter, save the true believers) THE ELEPHANT MAN is his magnum opus. I believe this is because of the mostly Britsh, classically trained actors that made up the cast. Hopkins and Hurt excell. Anne Bancroft (who I believe is the only American in the cast) delivers a flawless performance. Freddy Jones, as Bytes (this was before the internet, remember) is simply uncanny in his tour-de-force portrayal of arguably the vilest villain in cinema history. Who cares that the character was totally...

A MASTERPIECE...pure and simple!
As I sit down to write this review, my experiences with it from my youth came flooding back. I first saw it as a 17 year old high-schooler at my local movie theater, late one evening. I had seen, and enjoyed, the Broadway play a few months earlier, and wanted to see how the movie compared. The play, I should say, was very moving and had a certain spareness in its production design that was very effective. I had left the theatre with a moist eye and an interest in learning more about John Merrick, The Elephant Man (who had neurofibromatosis, NOT elephantitis, as is so often attributed to him).

Anyway, when the movie concluded, the ENTIRE audience of 150 or so sat in its seats, numbed and unmoving. It was one of those experiences where you fight back your tears, because you're worried if you let go, you'll start bawling like a baby! The film was so profoundly moving to me and so artistically brilliant, that I went again the very next day, dragging reluctant friends with me...

They don't come any better...
Despite the fact that "The Elephant Man" is about a grossly deformed man, it is truly one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Director David Lynch has peered into the souls of both the "outcasts" and those considered "normal" in our society. Lynch has never been better, and the same may also be said about actors John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins.

Would-be circus man Bytes has put The Elephant Man/John Merrick (Hurt) on display in the freak show, attempting to profit from another man's misery. Dr. Frederick Treves (Hopkins) "saves" Merrick from the evil Bytes, but what does he do with Merrick? Puts him on display in another freak show of sorts for a panel of doctors. Treves has again stripped Merrick of his dignity and tried to to profit from his misery. So who is worse? Bytes or Treves?

And this is only the first 15 minutes of the film...

What eventually saves Treves is that he actually gets to know Merrick. Behind the deformity he...

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