Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

nTitle: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

nDirector: Michael Radford

nCast: John Hurt, Suzanna Hamilton, Richard Burton

nReview:

n1984 remains a monumental piece of literature that everyone shouldnread at least once in their lives. For those who haven’t had the experience ofnreading George Orwell’s 1984 I’ll give you the lowdown. This was a novelnwritten way back in 1949 as a cautionary tale; a “what if” of what could happennto our collective and individual freedoms should a totalitarian governmentnarise. This was Orwell looking into the future and seeing a very grim, cold andnimpersonal society. Oceania is a societyndevoid of emotions, individuality and freedom. In this future, everyone dressesnthe same colors, children rat out their parents should they betray thengovernment and big brother (read: the government) is always watching you, theynknow what your saying, they know what your doing, they are in your home, Big Brother dominates the lives of the people of Oceania. Be it through the hugentelevision screen that everyone has in their homes, or by hidden cameras andnmicrophones, Big Brother knows. In this future there is such a thing as a ‘thoughtncrime’ and a government ruled organization created to deal with them called then‘thought police’. Basically, in this world, you are not allowed to speak yournmind, oh and sex is a crime, you can only have sex if you are married and evennthen, it’s to have children; not for pleasure. 1984 was a novel written to warnnus of what we should never allow our countries or governments to become. Sadnpart is that many of the things that happen in this novel and are meant to benconsidered horrid abuses of human rights are actively happening in our modern world.

nMind control at full force!

nOver the years, Orwell’s book has proven to be prophetic. Hownis Orwell’s novel slowly becoming a reality? Let’s see, we can start bynmentioning that ‘Big Brother’ is watching over us all the time. We do havenvideo cameras constantly surveying us, watching us, documenting our behavior. Wenhave devices that can pinpoint our exact location. We all have huge televisionnscreens in our homes (they get bigger every year) which the media uses tonmanipulate public opinion. Many news channels display the faces of the currentnpolitical enemies and make the masses hate and despise them, same as the ‘twonminutes of hate’ that appear in the book and film. These two minutes of hatenare two minutes in which political enemies of Oceanianare displayed by the government on huge screens so that the proletariat (thenworking class) can scream and hate them. At one moment Winston says “There is truth andnthere is untruth, to be in the minority of one does not make you mad” anstatement that makes perfect sense in this world we live in; by this I meannthat in our society, whenever you think differently for example by not beingnpatriotic or not believing in god ornreligion, well, then to the rest of society your just a nut job, a loon. Thenidea behind this statement is that just because you are in the minority doesnnot mean you are wrong. Sadly, this is what happens in the world we live in, ifnyou’re not thinking with the collective then you’re a conspiracy nut, or ancrazy.

nEven though we live in a slightly ‘liberal’ society, sexnbefore marriage is still frowned upon by the grand majority of the population;nthe desire to have sex is something that comes naturally from within us, yetnreligions seek to dampen our sexualities, demonize them by calling sex beforenmarriage a ‘sin’ same as in the world of 1984 where sex is a crime! The beautiful thing about 1984 is that thenlove that Winston and Julia develop for each other is genuine; they truly donlove each other. They enjoy each others warmth and company, where pray tell isnthe crime in that? Same as in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (1999), sex can becomenthe ultimate act of revolution, the ultimate expression of freedom; it’s thenone thing that the system cannot take away from you, the love, the affection,nthe warmth. In other words, the things that makes us human. And remaining humannis a big part of 1984, it’s at the very core of it. Winston himself says it: “It’snnot so much about staying alive, it’s staying human that’s important. Whatncount’s is that we don’t betray each other.” “If they can make me change mynfeelings, if they can stop me from loving you, that would be betrayal” to whichnJulia answers: “They can’t do that. It’s the one thing they can’t do. They canntorture you, they can make you say anything, but they can’t make you believenit. They can’t get inside you. They can’t get to your heart”

nAmongst other themes the film plays with, Nineteen EightynFour is primarily about being able to speak your mind and say the truth aboutnthings, it’s about freedom of the mind, of being able to tell it like it is. Tonsay that 2 + 2 = 4 and not 5. It’s about the ability to have control over yournown mind, to say what you want to say without fear. Are we living in a world innwhich you can do that? Because if we’re not, then we’re living in Orwell’snnightmarish totalitarian future, and it’s come true. But then again if this isnwhat is actually happening, and we’re living the nightmare, way back in 1949,nOrwell knew it would happen. He said it with his novel. He’d seen the futurenand he knew what it was going to be like. “If you want a vision of the future,nWinston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever” That line of dialognis so gut wrenching, yet so true. How many times have we not seen governmentnstomping, no worse, killing, murdering their people? So yeah, 1984 was propheticnin deed.

nThe film itself is a marvelous adaptation of Orwell’s book.nIt captures the essence, the mood and the overall vibe that Orwell created innhis masterwork. The film has a slightly decolorized look to it, reflecting thendreary lives and world in which these characters live in. John Hurt perfectlynembodies Winston Smith, the epitome of the blue collar worker, working day bynday to pay his way in life, which isn’t much of a life. It’s boring andnredundant, so much so that he thirsts desperately for something more; he hatesnwhat his life has become. He wants passion and freedom; two things that cannmake anyone feel alive. Richard Burton did his last film performance here, hendied before the film was premiered, but his portrayal of O’Brien, thengovernment operative, is chilling and memorable one, so cold, so robotic. Betweennfilm and book there are very few differences…some moments from the book wherenleft out and I do feel that the ending was a bit more grueling in the book, butnthe film gets its points across as well, just not as detailed and extended asnin the book. Still, I’d say that this is an excellent adaptation, which isnsomething that rarely happens in the book to film transition.

nSo folks, we’re talking about an important book and filmnhere, I highly recommend everyone out there to read the book and then see this film. It’s one of my favoritenbooks, it actually brought me to tears while reading it, its that good. Notnmany books have that effect on me, but this one really got to me. Howninfluential is this novel in the film world? Well, I can mention some of the filmsnthat were influenced by it for example: V for Vendetta (2005), Brazil (1985),nEquilibrium (2002) and THX-1138 (1971) to mention but a few. For more on films of this nature, check out this article I wrote a while back called Totalitarian Futures (Big Brother is Watching You!) In the end, though Nineteen Eighty-Four is sad andntorturous to watch at points because of how strongly we feel the systems boot stompingnon humanities face, the film does have an inspiring message. That evil willnfail, that humanity will prevail, someway, somehow, goodness will win in thenend, let’s hope that Orwell’s novel was equally prophetic with these words as well.

nRating for both the book and the film: 5 out of 5