This film should be viewed by everybody

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2009)

In my opinion it doesn't matter whether this film is based on a true story or not. It shows perfectly what all humans could look like if everybody suffered from the same condition(s) as Joseph Merrick and there will always be somebody who earns a living out of someone as unfortunate as Joseph and in 2009 it is no different. I have seen a number of documentaries shown recently on British TV where unfortunate people who happen to have an abnormality are paraded and poked and photographed purely because of the way they look. Granted most of these programmes and reasonably well made but all of them showed that if there is money to be made somebody will exploit the unfortunates, it is still the way of the world. What this film attempts to do is to show to the viewer that inside each unfortunate is a human being who has feelings and emotions like everybody else. I do not know if this condition is treatable now but one would hope that medical science could do something to alleviate the distress. It appears these tumours which Joseph had on his body were not malignant but they continued to grow and affect everything he did in his daily life. The film is a sobering look at an intelligent person who is ridiculed and taken advantage of merely because he doesn't physically conform to the norm. It is a testament to everybody who was involved in the films creation that the end result is not a travesty or a white wash but a study mainly of everybody else who came into contact with him and how they reacted to him. He was just a man who happened to look different to everybody else. The numerous people who laughed and stared at him maybe had something inside which was abnormal and that was and is sad. Having said all of this it is only my opinion and thankfully everybody will have different views. I would recommend anyone watch this film and would hope that everybody should watch it at least once.