Hurt is perfect

Rating: 9/10 (10 April 2012)

John Hurt gives one of the greatest performances ever captured on film as John Merrick in The Elephant Man. David Lynch is very hands off as director and allows Mr. Hurt to portray the tortured soul with such deep emotion and grace.
Merrick is abused by a freak show handler named Bytes, a man without a soul who treats his subject like an animal. A Dr. Treves(Anthony Hopkins) sees him at the show and takes him to London Hospital for medical study. The deformities are so horrific that Merrick wears a mask in order to appear in public and the doctors who at first believed that he also suffered from mental defects are astounded to hear him reciting the 23rd psalm. While at the hospital, he reads and proves to be a talented artist, drawing sketches and even building a beautiful replica of a church. He eventually becomes so well known that Queen Victoria is told of his plight and arranges permanent care for Merrick at the hospital.
His caretakers take him to an opera house to attend a musical and when he is introduced to the audience, they give him a standing ovation. He finally, for the first time in his life, has a brief moment of happiness. Lynch uses black and white to create a mood which sets the right tone and The Elephant Man is his best work.