1984, 1984

Superficially, this is a pretty faithful rendering of George Orwell's book. John Hurt is very good as the lead, and the grimy look seems like a fair representation of a fascist, dystopian future. Still, some books are best left unfilmed. 1984 is such a book of ideas and warnings that giving it a concrete reality diminishes it. As good as John Hurt is, people should have their OWN idea of who Winston Smith is, and have their own conception of what his world looks like. As a parable, 1984 should be flexible enough to resonate in different times and places and setting it to film makes it more literal and less USEFUL. The United States, for example, has its fascist tendencies, like any country, but it looks nothing like the world of this movie so we might think this story doesn't apply to us. We might think it is more a reflection of China or Cuba, or the old Stalinist Russia, missing the parallels in our own time. Certainly, though, our governments and corporations have their Big Brother tendencies. Our political parties constantly attempt to erase and rewrite history, but I don't think it looks very much like this film. Anyway, this is a well intentioned movie, and to its credit it does not try to dumb down Orwell, but I think 1984 should remain more abstract and universal, pagebound, and film is just too specific a medium for it. Three stars.

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