1984

Rating:
Summary: Not really bad, but nothing special
Review: This is the solution if you were looking to do a book report on 1984 and didn't want to spend the time to read the entire thing. It is sort of like a dumbed down version of the book. There are no major (read: MAJOR) changes to the novel, it just leaves a lot out. The director offers no vision of his own or interesting visual interpretations or anything, he just pretty much goes from the book and leaves some unfilmable parts and long parts out. My recommendation is you read the book instead, as you get a better depiction of Winston's gradual change in the Ministry of Love and other things in detail, like Goldstein's book.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding rendition/interpretation of Orwell's novel.
Review: This movie/DVD captures the spirit of Orwell's novel more perfectly than almost any movie I have ever seen that was derived from a book. The film perfectly captures the sense of dispair, the dingy physical lives of the people, the omnipresence of a malevolent Government, all of which constitute the main theme of the story.

William Hurt turns in quite literally a perfect performance as Winston Smith, the main protagonist of the story. The cinamatography of the film is brilliant, and perfectly captures the dingy, ratty existence of life in the ultimate totalitarian/socialist state. The constant background harangue of the Party via the telescreens is perfectly done. If Orwell had lived to see this film I believe that he would find little or nothing to criticize. It brilliantly captures the novel for the silver screen.

Without giving anything away, this is the story of one Winston Smith, a citizen of "Oceania" which is one of three superstates that dominate the world. (Oceania is comprised of Britain, the Americas, and Australasia; its adversaries Eurasia and Eastasia are of similar size and power). The Government dominates and controls everything through the "Party" which promotes the doctrine "Ingsoc" (derived from "English Socialism"). Everyone, even the elite, live in a ramshackle dingy world in which shortages of everything is the norm--it is a world in which "nothing is cheap and plentiful." (Basically your socialist state taken to the nth degree). Winston works in a pointless job that involves constantly re-writing old archives to conform to present "realities" as defined by the Party. Love is forbidden other than love of the Party and its leader ("Big Brother") and the "Thought Police" ruthlessly root out anyone who fails to conform to the requirement of strict orthodoxy and Party loyalty. The fact that Winston is such a one is the central theme to the story. When he falls in love with a beautiful young woman, his troubles begin in earnest.

To properly appreciate this film, the viewer should of course first read the book. I would imagine that the film would be somewhat bewildering to one who was not familiar at least with the novel's basic theme and premise--the dispair of life under the ultimate totalitarian state.

This is not a film for the whole family to enjoy together. It is intense and depressing. The final portion of the movie, involving Winston Smith and O'Brian (Richard Burton in his final role) is long, unhappy, and downright dreary. Although utterly necessary as an essential component of the story, it both drags and depresses.

1984 is essentially the story of the ultimate result of allowing Government (any Government) to run our lives, and what will happen if the people substitute trust in Big Government for the love of liberty and freedom.

Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: First I would like to say that 1984 was one of my most favorite movies of all time.I had the vhs version years ago and enjoyed this movie to no end.So why am I so disappointed with this dvd? Well the soundtrack in the movie I remember and love so well was by The Eurythmics.All of there music has been zapped from 1984.WHY? Imagine your favorite movie lets say The Godfather and the soundtrack is erased and replaced ...Why ...did they do that? This movie now has no emotion or feeling what so ever.The soundtrack by The Eurythmics made this movie what it was (eerie and surreal) and watching 1984 now well...

Rating:
Summary: The book that would be a film
Review: The book nineteen eighty-four was destined to be a film. This movie is a perfect example of what films of today are missing. On too many occasions filmmakers pander to their audience by overstating the details of the "plot points" rendering the viewer mindless. Director Michael Radford (IL Postino) creates a disturbing world that is far too similar to the present. The film is about a government called "The Party" that uses the media coverage of a war as a way to manipulate the past, present and future of mankind as a form of control. Those who question the "reality" (the media) are called "traitors". For some this film may require a second viewing not because it is not comprehensive, but because the film its self purposely manipulates the viewer. Pure brilliance!

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but the book is MUCH better
Review: 1984 is one of the best novels ever written, in my opinion. It's incredible. It hits you like no other novel I know.
This movie version, however, was not the greatest. It was okay, but could've been a lot better. It just doesn't contain the same raw charge of doom and emotion and fear that the book did.
That said, John Hurt was the best possible choice for Winston Smith. Hurt IS Winston Smith.
Oh well, the book is so good that I'll still give this movie 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best films ever
Review: If I were to give awards for "the best first 2 minutes/opening titles of any film," "The best last minute of any film," and "the film most faithful to the spirit and storyline of the novel," all three would go to this version of the Orwell classic. Acting? Great performances by both John Hurt and Richard Burton. His enunciation alone is worth the price of the DVD! Cyril Cusak also makes a great Thought Police agent!Cinematography? What a great, gritty look, with drained colors and muted light. This is a grim and philosophical film, as Orwell, I suspect, would have wanted it. The look and feel of the technology is also tangible and authentic. The film's original weak point, as others have noted, wass the soundtrack. I have no idea why the fine Domenic Muldowney portions were "supplemented" by the horribly inappropriate songs of the Eurythmics, but the resulting combination was horrible, and --great news-- isn't on this DVD! We're hearing only great stuff like Muldowney's "Oceania, 'Tis for Thee;" just right--it sounds like it was written by a machine.

On the whole, what a great experience. You'll watch this again and again, if the sad and gritty plot and despairing ending do not deter you. A MUST for any serious film buff's library!

Rating:
Summary: Now I DEFINITELY won't buy this DVD....
Review: I was reading some of the reviews, how disappointing to hear that EURYTHMICS Soundtrack is not on this disc. They added that eerie element to this movie, and made me a fan of George Orwell. I guess I will stick with the VHS Version then. What kind of idiots at the DVD Company would drop out their "sound"?.. Wow!.. Surprising, yea, if I was Dave or Annie, I would be pissed... I mean Michael Radford's music was o.k., but Jeez, WELL I think they should come out with a NEW DVD of this awesome film WITH THE EURYTHMICS SOUNDTRACK!!!!!...

Rating:
Summary: A boot, stamping on a human face¿ forever.
Review: This chilling analogy, given by Party Member "O'Brian," describes the ongoing relationship between the "Party" and the proletariat, in this breathtaking film version of George Orwells "1984."

Filmed in and around the locations described in the novel, this is the definitive screen version of Orwell's terrifying future history - aptly enough, it was filmed "in" 1984. Britain, or "Airstrip One," has become part of the ultimate totalitarian super-state, "Oceania" - a place in which even Hitler or Stalin would feel uncomfortable! - and is ruled with an iron fist by a nameless bureaucrat, "Big Brother."

In this nightmare dystopia the proletariat lives in grinding, hopeless poverty, it has been crushed and brutalized into mindless unthinking conformity and acceptance of anything Big Brother desires. Every waking moment, thought, action and deed is controlled and directed by the State... "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." These are the guiding principles of the Party.

Oceania is in a constant state of war with either one of two other super-states, Eurasia or Eastasia. Traitors confess their sins publicly on huge view-screens, and are then executed in public, by either hanging or a bullet in the head in front of baying hysterical crowds; children inform on their parents, friends and lovers on each other.

In this dismal world exists "Winston Smith," a low-level functionary in the "Ministry of Truth." The Ministry's business is, obviously, anything but "truth;" Winston spends his days in a drab and soulless "cubical farm," altering the past to make it conform to the Party's vision of the present. "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," is the Ministry's slogan.

Winston's problem, of course, is that he KNOWS much around him is a lie, because he helps to WRITE those lies! As well as the official "Truth," he also writes THE truth, HIS truth, in a diary he hides in his decrepit rat-hole apartment... just one of an endless litany of forbidden acts. In this small way, Winston starts to rebel against the State; something he knows could lead to his destruction. Events start to snowball out of control when he meets a girl, Julia, and the two of them engage in "Sex Crime," a none-state sanctioned union, punishable by the severest measures.

In a world of constant surveillance and betrayal, there's a heartbreaking inevitability to the lover's discovery and arrest, which moves the film into truly horrifying territory. Up 'til now the story has been broadly concerned with how the State controls "society" as a whole, but now we see how the full might and machinery of the State is used to break the individual... the boot stamping on a human face. The film now becomes a two-hander, Winston and his interrogator, O'Brian, played by John Hurt and Richard Burton respectively.

It is almost impossible to over-praise the performances of the two actors! Hurt, as Winston, is so believable, so right for the part, both physically and in his acting abilities; he makes the character come alive, so you really CARE about his fate. And Burton, as O'Brian, is a revelation. Burton was an actor who had a tendency to chew the scenery - which is not a bad thing! - and could so easily have created a monstrous, Nazi style caricature. But instead he gives a controlled and restrained performance, letting his sonorous voice create the character, and in a wondrous performance, we see the banality of true evil. In one chilling scene he even offers the hope of release to his wretched victim, telling him with a smile that, "...in the end, we will shoot you." This was Richard Burton's last film role, and as a swan song, I don't think he could have wished for a better part.

So much of "1984" has become part of popular consciousness, "Big Brother" style surveillance, "Thought Police," "Thought Crime," "Newspeak," "Doublethink," and the ultimate horror of "Room 101," that I'm sure many people think they know the story even if they've never read the book or seen the film. This film is quite possibly the best screen adaptation of a novel ever, just don't expect a happy-happy joy-joy Hollywood ending! Like its source material, the film is grim and disturbing... and I would recommend it without reservation!!!

Rating:
Summary: One of Orwell's Wake-Up Calls
Review: As a film designed to warn audiences about a bad-case scenerio, 1984 (like the Orwell book it was based on) is an excellent instance of what Aristotle called "deliberative rhetoric"--a piece meant to urge people to consider what they should do (a) to achieve future happiness and/or (b) to avoid future misery. Orwell, who was dying of cancer while he wrote the book, was NOT writing science fiction to entertain people, nor was he attempting to "predict" the future. Following World War II, he saw disturbing trends in England and the other victorious nations: sophisticated techniques were being used to manipulate the masses to react in ways desired by politicians and businessmen. Orwell feared that the Allies' governments and businesses would become the new enemies of their own citizens. Writing in 1947, Orwell chose the date 1948 and merely reversed the last two numbers to set his tale of despair and disillusionment in the near future, 1984, hoping that common people would wake up and AVOID any similar unhappy fate. Winston Smith (well played by John Hurt in this version) is a kind of generic good person we are meant to root for as he rebels in little ways against the control of Big Brother. Orwell's strategy is to horrify us by having Smith and his lover get caught and have their spirits totally crushed. When evil triumphs (and Richard Burton does an excellent job here), we, the audience, are supposed to react with anger and indignation: in this case, back in 1984 (the year this film was released) we were meant to go out of the movie theaters and take action to FIX what is wrong in our society. Alas, as Aristotle says, no persuasive technique is foolproof. Neither the original book nor any film version of it has done much to wake up most people to the dangers of the wide-spread deception and manipulation that are still with us. (Other films/novels that use this same shock strategy to try to give us different wake-up calls are COOL HAND LUKE, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, and FAHRENHEIT 451.)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film, poor DVD
Review: Please don't get me wrong. This movie is EXCELLENT. It does have some *ahem* changes in the story that are contrary to Orwell's version, but when you transition a novel to a movie, it just happens. There is no way around it. Period. So get over that, if its bothering you.

I am rather disappointed with the DVD, however. Earlier on in DVD production, this would have been a fine edition. But that was then, and this is now, and there's no reason or excuse for a DVD to be this shallow, especially with a movie like this. Im sure they will re-release it in a better version with two or three discs and all that stuff, but until then, making a DVD with a trailer for the special feature and a MONO SOUNDTRACK - MONO FOR CHRISSAKE!! Where are the edited scenes, commentaries, documentaries, and all that good stuff?? If they had no time to make it, or no access to it, they SHOULD HAVE WAITED before they released this.

They can do better than that. This movie deserves it, and the current version does not do the film any justice. They did the same thing with Alien 3, Clockwork Orange (although those are in for being changed), etc. There's no excuse for it these days.