*Winston
Smith (Narrating):
April the 4th, 1984. To the past, or to the future. To an age when thought is
free. From the Age of Big Brother, from the Age of the Thought Police, from a
dead man... greetings.
*Winston Smith (Narrating): It was three years ago,
on a dark evening. Easy to slip the patrols, I had gone into the proletarian areas.
There was no one else on the street, and no telescreens. She said, "Two dollars.",
so I went with her. She had a young face, painted very thick. Really, t'was the
paint that appealed to me: white like a mask, and bright red lips. No preliminaries.
Standing there with the smell of dead insects and cheap perfume, I went and did
it anyway.
*O'Brien:
What are your feelings towards Big Brother? Winston
Smith: I hate him. O'Brien: You must
love him. It is not enough to obey him. You must love him.
*Tillotson:
Beautiful thing, the destruction of words.
*O'Brien:
If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face forever.
Review:1984
is a wonderful adaptation of George Orwells novel of the same
title. It is bleak, desolate, & very depressing. As Winston Smith,
John Hurt (The Elephant Man, Contact,
Midnight Express) captures the hideous isolation of a man, who
as one critic put it, "truly is an island unto himself".
Hurt's performance in this movie is unbelievable and in my opinion
ranks up there as one of the better performances of the decade. Richard
Burton, in his final film before his death, is fantastic as well.
I'm also fond of the unique and oppressive music which was done by
the 80's synth-pop band the Eurythmics. I strongly recommend reading
the book first. Review by Aaron Caldwell
