The Elephant Man (1980)

“The Elephant Man” is a great movie - it moved me. It made me realise that looks are nothing, the body is just a thing that people look at and judge, just like John Merrick in the film, where his deformity hides his wonderful, kind personality and his true self. People used his deformity to judge him straight away without knowing of him, they made fun of him, made him out to be a Neanderthal or some type of Animal but really he was very clever and a human being too. The movie made me feel great sympathy for him as he had a hard time. When Frederick came along and started helping John, it gave me a sense of relief and joy that someone would be so kind. But there were still a lot of people like Night Porter who would use John as entertainment and it was not nice. The scene where they invade his room and throw him around, pouring alcohol on his face made me feel great sympathy but anger as well that people could actually do such a thing. Also people like Mrs. Kendal made me feel happy. The film directed by David Lynch, shows reality and what the world is like, it makes you think about things and what you think of other people, it makes you feel bad but also good. It changes not everyone but some people and the way they act towards every human being, it reminds you that everyone should be treated equally with respect. I think the film was directed quite well; also the music in the film did set the mood which was good. Freddie Francis’s black and white cinematography creates atmosphere and gives effect, it also goes well with the time the movie was set in. I’m not usually a fan of black and white films but this one was moving and really good. The make-up of the actor John Hurt was amazing and it looked nothing like him, it was a great recreation of the true story it was based on.