Incredible, Unmissable true story!

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2019)

I can't believe I haven't seen this one until today, especially since it's also staring a young Anthony Hopkins, in an age he wasn't yet certain he's as brilliant as he is. One of the best dramas I have ever seen, if not the best. I can't remember one in which I cried more than to this one, except the anime Little Princess Sara (Shôkôjo Sêra) and La Rose de Versailles (Berusaiyu no bara). And I think I would know because drama is my favorite genre! But those 2 anime weren't stories captured in 2 hours, but in more than a dozen!
It's made in the crude ways of the 70's but even so, it's eviscerating at times. The most eviscerating fact is that it's made after a real story!! What!? Yes. A real story. Google wikipedia: Joseph Merrick - and you'll find it! Not that wiki can be considered fact but I don't think it lies in this particular matter. This is a man who's life needs to be investigated, and not for money. A little quote from wiki *Merrick left school aged 13, which was usual for the time. His home-life was now "a perfect misery", and neither his father nor his stepmother demonstrated affection towards him. The Autobiography of Joseph Carey Merrick: "I was taunted and sneered at so that I would not go home to my meals, and used to stay in the streets with a hungry belly rather than return for anything to eat, what few half-meals I did have, I was taunted with the remark-'That's more than you have earned." *
The 1st time I cried in this movie was right at the beginning when he 1st sat on a bed for years and I realized he doesn't speak because he is afraid. I wonder how many people realized that before it was obvious. What's obvious is that this is a masterpiece people have forgotten, the most terrible sin of cinematography who's supposed to keep it alive forever.
A beautiful poem written by this wonderful person, Joseph Merrick - The Elephant Man:
'Tis true my form is something odd, /
But blaming me is blaming God; /
Could I create myself anew /
I would not fail in pleasing you.
If I could reach from pole to pole /
Or grasp the ocean with a span, /
I would be measured by the soul; /
The mind's the standard of the man.