George Orwell "1984" (1949) ****1/2
I watched Michael Radford's 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's novel 1984 (1949) for the second time last year. In my review of the film (here), I commented how I hadn't read Orwell's book since high school and that I couldn't vouch for exactly how faithful to it the film remained.
I've now finally read the novel for a second time and all I can say is "wow"—the film really is an accurate representation of the imagery that is conjured in my head when I read the book. Perhaps it's unfair to the book (even though I did read it first, probably about 25 years ago) for me to picture scenes from the film as I read it, but it is just so incredibly true to the tone and descriptions.
I think the one area where the book falls short is in addressing race, as it pertains to the state of the world in 1984. It barely touches upon the subject and it doesn't seem realistic that it wouldn't factor into the class structure of the novel.
On the surface it appears that Orwell envisioned a hopeless dystopian future of totalitarianism, but I would posit, as many have, that it was merely a warning to constantly remind ourselves—as I wrote in my review of the film—that human beings should always fight for love, individual thought and expression, as well as freedom, and always be suspicious of government and its control over us.
I've now finally read the novel for a second time and all I can say is "wow"—the film really is an accurate representation of the imagery that is conjured in my head when I read the book. Perhaps it's unfair to the book (even though I did read it first, probably about 25 years ago) for me to picture scenes from the film as I read it, but it is just so incredibly true to the tone and descriptions.
I think the one area where the book falls short is in addressing race, as it pertains to the state of the world in 1984. It barely touches upon the subject and it doesn't seem realistic that it wouldn't factor into the class structure of the novel.
On the surface it appears that Orwell envisioned a hopeless dystopian future of totalitarianism, but I would posit, as many have, that it was merely a warning to constantly remind ourselves—as I wrote in my review of the film—that human beings should always fight for love, individual thought and expression, as well as freedom, and always be suspicious of government and its control over us.
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