I Am Not An Elephant! I Am Not An Animal! I Am A Human Being! I ... Am ... A ... Man!

Rating: Null/10 (9 September 2015)

Told with remarkable sensitivity, crafted with pristine care & making a hard-hitting statement about human nature in an extremely composed manner, The Elephant Man is an emotionally scarring, soul-shattering & absolutely heartbreaking fable about a heavily disfigured person who's treated as a freak by the society in spite of his friendly, kind-hearted nature.
Based on the real-life story of Joseph Merrick, the story of The Elephant Man takes place in 19th century London and follows a surgeon who comes across a severely deformed man at a freak show and requests him to be brought to his hospital for examination and on further interaction finds him to be an intelligent & sociable man and vows to help him in any way & protect him from further exploitation.
Directed by David Lynch, The Elephant Man is my first stint with his works and the manner in which he brought it to life is pure craftsmanship. Exhibiting firm control over each aspect, Lynch makes every scene & spoken dialogue relevant to the story with added enhancement coming from its black-n-white photography, detailed set pieces, melancholic score, relaxed pacing and truly impressive performances.
Cinematography makes fluid use of its camera with steady movements, sharp focus & well- chosen angles in addition to excellent use of lighting & shadows, while the crisp greyscale encapsulation only adds a sense of timelessness to its narrative. The slow pacing makes it a more immersive experience but it may not go down well with every viewer. And its make- up was so effective that it prompted the Oscar people to create a separate category for this very aspect.
Coming to the acting department, every cast member chips in with good work in his or her given role but it's the input from Anthony Hopkins & John Hurt that leaves the most lasting impression. Hurt delivers an immensely poignant, deeply sympathetic & emotionally moving performance as the titular character and is the soul of this picture. Hopkins himself exhibits wide range of emotions in the role of the surgeon who rescues Merrick from the freak show & offers him shelter in his hospital.
There is a lot to dig in here for The Elephant Man is a criticism of how society is wired to be repelled or feel disgusted by anything that doesn't fit into their definition of "normal". There are several moments in the picture that reflect just how quick we end up making an opinion about someone based solely on their outer appearances, even if they are a whole different person from within, and with this outright rejection, we only contribute to their added misery for these helpless people end up being exploited for their deformities.
On an overall scale, The Elephant Man is a plea for us to not be so harsh with our baseless judgments, asks for a little more compassion for people who can't defend themselves since society itself has discarded them, and is an expertly crafted motion picture that shows its filmmaker in complete control of his craft. To see someone so humane be treated in such a harsh brutal manner for something that's not even his fault is troubling on many levels, but it's also going to be an eye-opener for many. Strongly recommended to every viewer out there.