Fear is not always in your head

Rating: Null/10 (4 September 2007)

After David Lynch's first masterpiece, "Eraserhead" (late 1970's), came this true story about an Englishman in the 1800's, John Merrick, afflicted with many diseases and the utmost in difficult lives. If you're familiar with "Eraserhead", you'll find Lynch brought many of his effective tools to this next project  real black and white film, strong lighting, dream sequences, an almost unbelievably rich sound track, actors perfect for the roles, and his dark vision of Life. John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Anthony Hopkins are among the talented actors. Taking no unnecessary liberties with the Truth, we experience some of the most intense disgust and admiration for Humanity we will ever encounter. John Merrick's life was a roller coaster of Hell and Heaven, abuse and kindness, violence and gentility. You are pulled in immediately, though you try to hold back out of fear of the unknown. Even then, knowing is not enough to remove the fear. Fear is NOT always "just in your head". No one makes films like Lynch. Few films move me as "Elephant Man". There are only a handful of films holding so much emotional intensity that we can each translate into our own lives. This is one.