Rating: 
Summary: A Stunning and Unforgettable Motion Picture Event!
Review: I hadn't heard much about The Elephant Man until I came across some reviews and I found myself intrigued. I am able to admit that The Elephant Man is one of the few films that made me shed a tear, and is a stunning, thought-provoking and underrated picture that deserved a much bigger audience than it got.Based on the true story of John Merrick (John Hurt), a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak. It's very easy to feel sorry and love for John Merrick, and it is very easy to feel hate for the people who tortured him, and this really shows us that this film is able to display a heap of emotions and do in a brilliant and amazing way. Personally, I found Merrick much more beautiful than the people who laughed and made fun of him, because his heart and soul was so much in the right place that it made you believe his appearance was also, even though he seemed deformed, he was really just normal. Dr. Frederick Treves is portrayed excellently by a very determined Anthony Hopkins, and the supporting cast which includes Anne Bancroft, are splendid in never-better roles. But, it is John Hurt who steals the show, his performance is quite simply a masterpiece (just like this film) of controlled emotion, and is a performance that will leave forever in my mind. Stunning, real, emotional and masterful, The Elephant Man awes, engages and jabs at the heart. This is one powerful movie that is one of a kind. I urge you to see it.
Rating:
Summary: Unquestionably one of the finest films in the last 25 years
Review: I've always thought that cinema is supposed to provoke, challenge, disturb, and otherwise shake us from our mundane little lives. No film does this better than "The Elephant Man," one of the masterworks of modern cinema. There are maybe a handful of films (and I've seen thousands) that I can honestly say are without flaws - this is one of them. Why "EM" didn't win the best picture Oscar is beyond me. Likewise, why John Hurt and David Lynch didn't win their respective Oscars is beyond me. But the Academy wouldn't know a good film if it tripped over one. Anyway, "EM" is profoundly moving, elegantly photographed, and rich with remarkable performances. Rarely do movies elicit a lump of emotion in my throat, let alone tears. This film managed to do both, and on more than one occasion. I wouldn't expect today's film-going public to appreciate "EM." Not enough car chases or explosions for most people. And Jim Carrey's not in it. But those of us left who still appreciate film as ART, or appreciate the stunning power of a truly great performance, or the splendid touch of a truly great director, need look no further than "EM." It is one for the ages.
Rating:
Summary: Like no other movie ever made
Review: When ever I am asked what is my favorite movie of all time, I never hesitate when I say "The Elephant Man". From it's first dark and sepia toned scenes, you are immediately drawn into the tragic life of Mr. Merrick. While sometimes painful to watch because of the cruelty this man endured, it's also a testimonial to the kindness that many people can exhibit, and to the human spirit - brilliance can not be kept down. I can not imagine another movie will ever be made that would be comparable in it's beauty, intelligence, spirit, and the way it touches your very soul.
Rating:
Summary: 111 Years After Joseph Merrick
Review: This film is a classic! It tells the life story of a man who was beautiful on the inside, but ridiculed by society because of what he looked like on the outside. In many ways, the world is still that way today, and that is why this film should be preserved and shown to each new generation so that they can learn compassion and realize that it is what is on the inside of an individual human being that counts, and not just how beautiful they are on the outside. Beauty is indeed only skin deep, and often just a mask. Joseph Merrick was a real person, he really had to live like that, and during a most difficult and judgemental time in history (the Victorian age) when people who thought themselves learned and above that which they did not understand were really just ignorant without cause. John Merrick was a beautiful angel, and this film will leave you feeling as if you knew him. John Hurt's performance as Mr. Merrick is truly remarkable, a masterpiece. Yes, the ending is sad, as was Joseph's life, but if you look at it with open eyes you will learn something from the film; it will teach you something very important about love and compassion, and empathy.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic, but beautiful and uplifting
Review: I was fortunate enough to see this movie at a theater when it first came out. I always have remembered Hurt's eyes, which were the only part of him visible through the makeup (and the makeup is indeed exactly how John Merrick looked in real life). Although horribly abused in the movie Merrick was able to maintain his innocence (he's actually somewhat of a dandy when given the chance). The whole film is shot in black and white, which helps maintain the atmosphere. Director David Lynch illustrates a theme not mentioned below--the "machine state" versus the "natural state." This is shown right in the opening scence, which shows heavy industry and a man badly injured by a machine. Then there is Merrick opposed to all of it, still innocent, still dwelling in his own interior Garden of Eden. Did I find the movie depressing? No, not all it. I found it uplifting, even beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: Easily the most depressing film ever made
Review: The only reason this Lynchian masterpiece didn't get a fifth star in my book is for the monstrous lump that remains to this day lodged in my throat. It's hard to believe that such a depressing piece of art could ever be made, but I'm glad that it did. If it weren't for trauma, I would think that every child should see this movie at a an early age. It very well might teach the golden lesson of empathy.
Rating:
Summary: Transcendent Cinema!
Review: Ignore any of the criticism you may have heard of this film--that it employs voyeuristic exploitation, that it's overly sentimental, that it represents an early, less-advanced stage in the career of a brilliant filmmaker, David Lynch. The simple truth of the matter is that anyone might have great difficulty naming a single film made since 1980 that represents so complete a mastery of the medium. Despite much received wisdom proclaiming that film is limited to the external surfaces of reality, Lynch employs camera work, editing, and sound to conduct us deep into the innermost consciousness of John Merrick (the historic "elephant man"). That which produces revulsion at the initial recording of its grotesque, nauseating features (this is no moderately attractive human specimen such as the one in "Mask") ultimately evokes sympathy, understanding, and love of the inextinguishable human spirit itself. Lynch organizes the film around 3 challenging montage sequences--the opening one presents the birth of Merrick into a world of uncertainty and contradictions; the second takes us into the world of Merrick's living hell, with industrial smoke replacing the white clouds of the opening sequence; the 3rd is accomplished through a panning of the camera that seamlessly unites physical and metaphysical orders in its presentation of Merrick's sleep, thus resolving the conflicts in the first 2 sequences. The film has minimal dialogue and only a fragmentary musical score, yet it represents one of the most imaginative, at once disturbing and intriguing, uses of sound in the history of cinema. Perhaps only a well-produced DVD can fully disclose the "sound of silence" that characterizes both Merrick's inner and outer worlds, yet the subtle changes in audio ambience, together with the subliminal "pounding" that frequently reminds us of a dehumanized world, should be unmistakable even on VHS and low-fidelity equipment. Finally, the acting is in perfect harmony with the filmmaker's purposes. No individual "sticks out." Heard's simple yet sympathetic Merrick, Anthony Hopkins' beautifully understated Dr. Treves, the supporting roles of Gielgud, Bancroft, and Wendy Hiller--all contribute to a sum so much greater than its parts as to defy description. To say that this is one of the most underrated films ever made may be the biggest understatement one could ever make.
Rating:
Summary: They don't come any better...
Review: Despite the fact that "The Elephant Man" is about a grossly deformed man, it is truly one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Director David Lynch has peered into the souls of both the "outcasts" and those considered "normal" in our society. Lynch has never been better, and the same may also be said about actors John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. Would-be circus man Bytes has put The Elephant Man/John Merrick (Hurt) on display in the freak show, attempting to profit from another man's misery. Dr. Frederick Treves (Hopkins) "saves" Merrick from the evil Bytes, but what does he do with Merrick? Puts him on display in another freak show of sorts for a panel of doctors. Treves has again stripped Merrick of his dignity and tried to to profit from his misery. So who is worse? Bytes or Treves? And this is only the first 15 minutes of the film... What eventually saves Treves is that he actually gets to know Merrick. Behind the deformity he discovers a human being. There are so many beautiful and touching moments in this movie: Merrick's awe at watching the play, Merrick removing the pillows from his bed so he can sleep like a normal person and, of course, Merrick trapped at the train station and shouting out "I am not an animal!" But my favorite moment comes when Merrick's fellow "freaks" in the circus help him escape. As they put him on a ship so he can hopefully find his way back home, the dwarf (Kenny Baker) says to him "Good luck, my friend. And who needs it more than us?" Filmed in gorgeous black and white. They don't come any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Sad
Review: If you want to know more about the story you can find that in other reviews. But I wanted to comment on one of my favorite movies of all time. I think its the most wonderful sad movie ever made. When I hear friends say it was a depressing movie, well I have to question their character! This movie touches deeper in the heart than any other movie I have even seen. There is one scene in particular, that SHOULD change your thinking forever. And without ruining the scene for you, I'll tell you what it produces, an appreciation for a man who experienced pain upon mistreatment upon despisement, AND, when finally treated with human dignity, showed utter amazement and gratitude with tears and humility. I didn't just wipe away a tear or two when I saw that scene, but sobbed. This is one to watch every year!
Rating:
Summary: A Touching Tale
Review: This movie chronicals the real life of John Merrick, or the Elephant Man as he was refered to. Raised or discovered by a circus man, Merrick traveled 19th century England as a freak, where his incredible deformation and disfiguration brought about the curiousity of a doctor(Anthony Hopkins). The doctor discoves although he has been treated like an animal, Merrick is actually intelligent and articulate. He introduces him to British society and becomes his friend. The trials and tribulations of this story are what ensue. This is an amazing movie. David Lynch is at his directorial best creating a tale of simpathy, facination, gratification, cruelty, and redeption. John Hurt is brilliant as Merrick giving layer after layer to such a complex character. The make up artists also did a terrific job transforming Hurt into Merrick. This film is a classic and anyone who loves movies should see it. I highly recommend it.
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