Movie Review: The Elephant Man
The scary tone of Industrial Revolution is in the air of London, where everybody is living the refinement from the rich and fashionable to the educated and well mannered. This is not the real London, this is not our setting, our setting is a little further away from the luxury and deeper into narrow streets, slums, crowded alleys, the rattling noise of cars and the strong colour of smoke. This is the setting of David Lynch’s first major commercial film Elephant Man, based on the life of John Merrick. There was also a famous drama with the same title and it is to be believed that both are inspired from the book of Ashley Montagu The Elephant Man: A study in Human Dignity.
John Merrick was twenty-seven years old when he died, in early 1990 in London. He was born with a disease called neurofibromatosis which deforms you in few ways such as having a twisted spine, a non-functional right arm and a head that is twice the size of normal head. He was just barely surviving living in London until a surgeon helped him by introducing him to society, helping him emotionally and also moving him into a tranquil home in London Hospital.
There was magnificent accuracy in terms of the disability that was displayed, maybe that was one of the reasons why movie was a little scary, at least for me who found it a little disturbing at times but also very handsome in the way it was portrayed. It also at time would use some tools from the toolbox of a horror movie such as surprise cuts and sudden shocks and gloomy atmosphere provided in order Merrick had a huge monstrous head, fascinatingly scary mouth and one bumpy kind of eye and most of it a curved back. It has to be mentioned that massive credit must be given to the make up artist and Hurt’s incredible show of acting that it was definitely made to look very realistic even by today’s standards and lots of emotion put into it.
My personal favourite scene in the movie was when Merrick looking like weirdly dressed Cosplay Game character is a guest at Dr Treves’s place. The way he speaks in truly remarkable as his accent surely doesn’t seem to be of any less than British upper high class. The manners were disorderly there as well, He glances at a family photograph at Dr Treves home and compliments them, then goes ahead and shows the picture of his Mother. He would beautifully describe the beauty of his mother using it as one of the ways to express his love for her and the host then agrees that she was a very pretty woman. Merrick then continues and expresses what he feels is that he must have been a major disappointment to her and he tried to so hard to be good, as the Doctor’s face shows that he only wish he could imagine the depth of emotions that are going through one’s mind.
It is very thought-provoking to me to how his disability was portrayed, it was shown that he is extremely courageous that he is allowing himself to be displayed as a sideshow attraction. No doubt he was extremely courageous but I believe there should be a clean difference between a man who is courageous and a man who is doing the best he can with what he’s given, yes he is also courageous but I think he is more than just that and the move is exactly trying to tell us that, the way he speaks is so eloquent and even though with all his disabilities he could speak and behave in such a mannerly way is a way of complementing his efforts and his achievements.
The overall movie’s timeline mainly starts off when Dr Treves elegantly played by Anthony Hopkins finds him on exhibition and Merrick’s getting to have a peaceful time under the care of the doctor until he is kidnapped by the former promoter and taken to France and then finished around a corner during his return to Doctor Treves. A fascinating end to how he became a show for London’s high class and one of his main admirers was a character of grand lady Mrs. Kendal played gracefully by Anne Bancroft. Overall this movie is a must watch and a great learning experience.
