Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

George Orwell (novel)
Michael Radford (written by)

Release Date:

14 December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

George Orwell's Terrifying Vision Comes To The Screen.

Plot:

George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

Plot Keywords:

Future | 1984 | Propaganda | Big Brother | Sex

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

John Hurt	...	Winston Smith
Richard Burton	...	O'Brien
Suzanna Hamilton	...	Julia
Cyril Cusack	...	Charrington
Gregor Fisher	...	Parsons
James Walker	...	Syme
Andrew Wilde	...	Tillotson
David Trevena	...	Tillotson's Friend
David Cann	...	Martin
Anthony Benson	...	Jones
Peter Frye	...	Rutherford
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Waiter (as Roger Lloyd Pack)
Rupert Baderman	...	Winston as a Boy
Corinna Seddon	...	Winston's Mother
Martha Parsey	...	Winston's Sister

Also Known As:

1984 (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 (1984) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Alexandra Palace Way, London, England, UK

Company:

Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production

Trivia:

The actors who play the roles of Parsons (Gregor Fisher) and the Telescreen Announcer (Phyllis Logan) also appeared in Michael Radford's first feature film, Another Time, Another Place (1983).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Winston and Julia are together in the room upstairs for the second time, Julia asks Winston what time the clock says. He responds that it is 21 hours, or 9pm. When Julia leaves and Winston picks up the glass ball off the table, the clock behind it says 2:30.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Big Brother: [voiceover] This is our land. A land of peace and of plenty. A land of harmony and hope. This is our land. Oceania. These are our people. The workers, the strivers, the builders. These are our people. The builders of our world, struggling, fighting, bleeding, dying. On the streets of our cities and on the far-flung battlefields. Fighting against the mutilation of our hopes and dreams. Who are they?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Metoroporisu (2001)

Soundtrack:

Oceania,'Tis For Thee

one of the best novel-to-screen adaptions ever made, for the best novel ever written

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) is, in my opinion, one of the best novel-to-screen adaptions ever made, for the best novel ever written (and don't get philosophized with me about "the other book", because I don't believe in god ;) ).

If you've read the book, you already know that you should expect a very depressing movie. And indeed, this is one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen (yes, it's even more depressing than Dead Ringers). I guess that might explain why this astonishing gem is so underrated. So underrated that, as far as I know, it hasn't been released on DVD (only on VHS and LaserDisc).

Another reason (apart from being a very non-commercial and non-mainstream movie) is that the book is quite hard to "get". The way I see it, everyone sees and understands something else from it. The "outer layer" is a political satire and most people see it only as a "negative prophecy". But for me it's a much more complicated creation, which works on so many levels. It deals with the basic and most important issues in life, society, government, wars, religion, education, brain-washing, the place of the individual, the hardship of being alone (physically and mentally), the concept of holding two contradictious thoughts at the same time, the position of the individual in history, the nothingness of being human, love, family, loyalty and betrayal, the instinct of any animal in nature to survive, and so much, much more.

Being so complicated, I think it's impossible to bring all the concepts of the book to the big screen ("Naked Lunch", anyone? Heh, maybe Cronenberg should have handled 1984 too). So don't expect to find everything in the movie (this is the point to mention that several minor changes were made for the movie). If you like it, I recommend you to read the book. I think that together they "complete" each other, in the sense that the former "brings life" to the latter: When I read the book (at least 4 times by now) I "see" and "hear" the characters as they appear in the movie. I can't imagine how the reading would be without it.

Back to the movie, which, by the way, was shot on exactly the same dates (up to the day!) and locations as imagined by author George Orwell. It stars John Hurt, my favorite British actor, in what might be his best performance ever. Very few actors can give so much realism to such a demanding and difficult role (especially the torture scenes).

This is also Richard Burton's last movie, and it's dedicated to him. Burton is excellent in his role, and his casting is perfect. His voice and speeches will stay with you for a very long time.

All the other actors are excellent too: Suzanna Hamilton as Julia, Gregor Fisher (which you might recognize from the TV Bean-like comedy "The Baldy Man") as Parsons, Cyril Cusack as Charrington, and more.

Dominic Muldowney did a fantastic job with the music and songs, and the Eurythmics contribution works well here, especially Annie Lennox's heavenly voice (but keep their CD-soundtrack aside - it's so much different from the movie's atmosphere, except for the end-credits song, "Julia"). Muldowney's score, titled Nineteen Eighty-Four - The Music of Oceania, was finally released in 1999. It's 54 minutes long and contains 24 tracks.

Roger Deakins' cinematography and film-processing is excellent, giving the film the required atmosphere and aging look.

And of course, Michael Radford, who also made the adaption, directed the movie flawlessly.

Well, if you read this review up to here, you understand how good I think the movie and novel are. I can't recommend them enough. But be warned - both are extremely depressing and require a lot of thinking. Oh, don't read it in any language other than English!

10/10