One Of Us

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2017)

Last Thursday I was at a film class at Edinburgh Uni where the subject was the filmography of David Lynch. I'll spare you all the negative details but INLAND EMPIRE was a film so poorly regarded even its title would have made even the most cowardly reactionary in to a rabid anti-imperialist while I described Lynch as "The windsock director". Not to be too negative I did add at one point that I liked THE ELEPHANT MAN a lot. So I thought I'd watch it again to see if it was as good as I remembered. I was not disappointed by this tribute to the triumph of the human spirit
Mawkish ? Manipulative? Yes but also magnificent. I'm always the first person to be fuelled up on outrage when a film based on real life events has to constantly embellish things in order to make a "better film" but this film is so hauntingly beautiful on both a narrative and aesthetic level that any and every dramatic airbrushing is justified It's impossible not to feel sorry for the plight of Merrick .One should perhaps feel sorry for the film itself since it- BAFTA wins aside - was rather unrewarded upon its release . 8 Oscar noms but no wins. In 1980 Hopkins was a name actor but almost 40 years later his performance as the humane Treves remains a career highlight. It's impossible of course not to mention the brilliant John Hurt who as in THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT brings a supernatural empathy to his character and manages to convey this character to the audience
I should also praise director David Lynch. Pithy , biting remarks in film classes is sometimes justified but one can't fault what Lynch has done here and thankfully he holds back on some of the abstract pretension that often dominates much of his work. He does bookend the film with this type of arty imagery along with the theatre montage sequence but this only adds to the story instead of overwhelming it. His talent seen here is amplified by the cinematography of Freddie Francis
It's probably not all that difficult to make this big boy cry but it's not often a film brings tears to my cheeks. This is down to the mind-set I have of "It's only a movie" but THE ELEPHANT MAN achieved this which says a lot to its haunting powerful beauty