A dark, scary and poignant biographical drama

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2013)

I vaguely remember seeing parts of this film as a child and how dark it seemed. This evening I saw it in full and it had a mixture of moments that scared me and made me smile and an ending that nearly made me cry. Either a scene of John Merrick lying on the floor at the freak show (or something along those lines) or the ending of him lying on his bed made my sister sob her heart out when she was nine because she was worried he would die.
Due to its black and white cinematography as well as its old movie style, I initially thought this film was made way before 1980 but that's not the thing that bothered me the most. The film felt slow in places and had some forgettable moments but the beginning (a screaming person rolling back and forth being superimposed over a stampede of elephants, which mistakenly made me think an elephant disfigured Merrick's face by trampling on it) and ending scenes (Merrick dying and a vision of his mother against a starry sky) are two of the most memorable parts of the film as well as the train station scene where Merrick tells a mob that he is a human being and not an animal. Other standout assets were Merrick's distinctive style of speech, a tear falling down Frederick Treves's face, Merrick becoming attracted to a woman who is afraid of him, a female character reciting dialogue from 'Romeo and Juliet (the "good pilgrim..." part), the play scene, some earlier visions of what looked like a fair complete with a Punch and Judy puppet show and the camera sweeps of Merrick's cathedral model while the London Symphony Orchestra's beautiful rendition of 'Adagio For Strings' plays. John Hurt's make-up accurately resembled the real Elephant Man's disfigurement and all music was old-fashioned with some eerie pieces but the music at the play and 'Adagio For Strings' were more pleasant to the ears.
Overall this was a gripping biographical drama with disturbing yet memorable scenes and a couple of well-known cast members (Hurt and Anthony Hopkins). 8/10.