Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Movie #7 on the also ran list

Movie number seven on the "Also Ran" list is 1984.  Here is the link to it on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four_(film)  I'm indebted to my good friend Vanessa for the suggestion that I always put in a hot link to these movies.  (I'll try and remember in future, Dear Lady!)  1984 is a disturbing movie as is the book that was written in 1948.  George Orwell simply reversed the last two numbers of that date , believing that it would be far enough away in the future.  There are two actors who have a lock on tortured souls - Jeremy Irons and John Hurt.  The latter is slightly more dissipapated and plays the role of Winston Smith, who is rebelling against the party and its many manifestations, including the Thought Police.  He and Julia try and conduct an affair in an atmosphere where such behavior is severely punished.

I have a particular affinity with this work as I first saw it on BBC TV in about 1954.  It was the most shocking thing I had ever seen in my young life up to that point and I never forgot it.  In our innocence we had no idea that brainwashing and torture could go on in our modern world yet alone way into the future.  It gave me a visceral hatred and fear of totalitarianism which I hold to this day.

The movie itself is not the best, I have to say, and only makes it to this list becuse of its political importance.  I think it's time we did another version.

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