Customer Reviews

1984 ~ John Hurt - Richard Burton (Import - All Regions)

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Naturally any film media can not place the entire book on the screen with maybe the exception of "Hamlet" (1996). With anything less than a mini-series. Second is it the story or the philosophy that needs to be transmitted? If you are lucky you get both.

In this case we are lucky because both the basic story and the basic philosophy were transmitted in this movie. An added plus, you could say double plus good, was the portraying the environment as a period piece as described in the book and not as some modern version. They made the 1984 that was envisioned in 1948, not 1985.
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In a society that has eliminated many imbalances, surplus goods, and even class struggle, there are bound to be deviates; Winston Smith is one of those. He starts out, due to his inability to doublethink, with thoughtcrime. This is in a society that believes a thought is as real as the deed. Eventually he graduates through a series of misdemeanors to illicit sex and even plans to overthrow the very government that took him in as an orphan.
If he gets caught, he will be sent to the "Ministry of Love" where they have a record of 100% cures for this sort of insanity. They will even forgive his past indiscretions.
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To get a review of the book see "1984" by George Orwell. The movie can stand on its own merit, but knowledge of the book will help fill in the gaps and explain the inferences. Better actors could not have been picked. Richard Burton is in his element.

Think this is not happening today?

This version of the movie follows as close to the book as you can get however, read the book before you sit down to watch the movie. There are several details that are left out that might make you wonder what is going on.

The acting is very well done. The characters stay true to the book.

Overall highly recommended to those 1984 fans.

This movie attempts to follow the original story created by George Orwell and as such does an excellent job. The costumes, the graphics, the visuals produced by the telescreens, the music, the overall decrepit appearance of everything, it's all true to the novel Orwell wrote. The casting was very good, with an excellent performance by Sir Richard Burton. The only weakness in this movie is that it is SO true to the book that it might be a little hard to follow in places without prior knowledge of the story.

"1984" remains one of the most important books, ever written. If you've read it, may I also suggest Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" and his "Collected Essays". "1984", like most films, can not do complete justice to the book in a limited time frame; Nevertheless, it is a wonderful rendition of the book's intent. John Hurt, Richard Burton and the rest of the cast are excellent; Michael Radford's direction is economical and powerful. As others, have indicated "1984" is a film classic. Sadly, viewers in the U.S. have to find important films or non-abridged films, (e.g., "Body and Soul" with John Garfield), outside the U.S. Recently, I picked up this good copy of "1984", (the Japanese DVD), from Amazon. It is in English audio and you can just turn the subtitles "off". (For whatever the reason, you still can't get it at Netflix.) Also problematic is that the DVD price has been climbing needlessly high, and I feel lucky to have, recently, found a reasonably priced copy from Amazon Marketplace. While some viewers might feel that the society Orwell presents, "can't happen or is unrealistic", the fact is, that it already has happened and continues to take place from religious fanatics who would burn our books and films that they find sinful, to and the daily, "propaganda" of Rupert Murdoch's news empire and the global corporations that dominate our world.