Immensely Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (6 June 2000)

_The Elephant Man_ is an immensely powerful and moving film. As a biography of Joseph Merrick, it's somewhat inaccurate, and events have been juggled around chronologically, presumably for dramatic effect. However, this takes little, if anything, away from the impact of the film.
The black and white photography is excellent, as is the cinematography; a very real sense of Victorian England is evoked. As in other Lynch pictures, such as _Eraserhead_, sound is used skillfully in the creation of mood and a sense of place. Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and a host of others offer a sense of their characters that is almost palpable.
I found _The Elephant Man_ to be, at times, very uplifting and positive; at other times, it was almost unbearably sad. Scenes of great joy and happiness are contrasted almost immediately with scenes of mindless brutality and infuriating ignorance. For anyone that has never quite fit in, or felt an outsider, Hurt's portrayal of Joseph Merrick will be something that will strike a very, very deep chord, and leave a lasting impression, as it did with me