"He walks among us, but he's not one of us"

Rating: 10/10 (23 June 2014)

The Elephant Man is a beautiful movie in many ways. It's about the heartbreaking story of a young Englishman named John Merrick, who has a rare disease which causes him to have severe disfigurations all over his body. While watching this, you witness Mr Merrick, being treated like a freak for his whole life, finally experiences the sentiment of being an individual. And the way this was reflected makes makes this movie beautiful.
John Merrick was an unique person, so naturally he is an unique and unforgettable character. But the thing that makes him unique is not his appearance, it's his emotional states. For his entire life, people were afraid of John Merrick because he was like no other human, he lived like the frightening creature he had been told he was. Until one day, he met Frederick Treves, who first considered him like no more than another step in his career, but then felt a deep love and respect towards him.
After meeting Treves, and slowly being introduced to society, Merrick goes through a lot of different phases; at the same moment he is both appreciated and feared, respected and humiliated. He becomes an iconic personality for the society, a figure who is loved by most of the public; but for some, he remained a freak, which caused him to live his life being afraid of approaching people.
But apart from all this, the real thing that makes John Merrick's sentimental conditions unique and this movie an amazing masterpiece is, the way that Merrick is being introduced to audience. First you are afraid of him, then you feel sorry for him, then you adore him. But a slight detail makes this unusually beautiful. No matter how much you feel sorry for what he goes through, unlike most of the other biographic dramas, you can't empathize with John Merrick. You are not like him, and he is not like you; you can never imagine how it feels to be like him just like he never knew how it felt like to be a "normal" person. He was not an animal, he was not an elephant; he was a man, he was a human being; yet he never was approached like one. In the end, wasn't the desire to be like anyone, for example like you, what became the end of John? But in a way, this was how you were introduced to John's feelings; you couldn't acknowledge being him just like how he couldn't acknowledge being you, and that was the closest you can ever get to know how it feels like to be John Merrick. And this way the emotions were reflected is exactly why this movie is a beautiful, iconic masterpiece that should be watched by everyone.
Don't forget to bring tissues.