the elephant man

Rating: 10/10 (4 June 2005)

David Lynch always used to be one of my favorite directors even if most of his movies leaves me puzzled. Perhaps "The elephant man" is his most easy one as after all Lynch only tells you a heartbreaking story. The elephant man is in fact John Merrick (John Hurt), a man who has been trampled by elephants and due to this, he is totally deformed. In the Victorian London he's a freak who's been used at carnivals for people to have a look at. One day Doctor Frederick Treves sees the man and decides to take care of him. John Merrick got a room in the local hospital but soon we'll see that the doctor invites all types of persons from the high society who want to see the freak, even if they all can cover it up like some tea-parties. Anyway, it looks like John Merrick got a sort of life in where he seeks the little pleasures of life. The real tragic is that there is a sort of battle going on who owns the freak, is it the freak show-owner or the doctor? What Lynch is showing us is to see who actually the freak is : the poor creature or the crowd who are so curious that they forgot there is actually a human being behind the tragic body? One of the more accessible films by Lunch for sure that got the full support from the public who were falling for this tragic story.