The fact that this movie was shot at the exact time and location envisioned by the author gives it a chilling authenticity. Magnificent performances by John Hurt (Winston Smith), Richard Burton (O'Brien, his last role before his death) and Suzanna Hamilton (Julia). Excellent direction by Michael Radford and soundtrack by the Eurythmics.
In his final interview, George Orwell was asked what the moral of 1984 was. He said "the moral? Don't let it happen". Some would say that instead of avoiding it, we insured it!
Hey, Miranda! John Hurt later played the dictator of Britain in the Wachowski siblings' adaptation of Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" as a callback to his Orwellian role! The hilarious parody of this movie is Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" which also functions as a biting satire. The pulp grindhouse version of this would be John Carpenter's "They Live!". The high-octane action version of this would be Kurt Wimmer's "Equilibrium" starring Christian Bale! All four films are excellent! The sobering reality is that Orwell predicted today's world! We are living "1984" but simply don't realize it. -- endless war on terror -- media controlled by a handful of companies -- resurgent nationalism -- demonizing xenophobia -- political demagoguery -- widening wealth gap creating a generational proletariat -- cancel culture -- radical wokeism defeminizing women and neutering men -- anti-intellectualism celebrated as virtue -- loss of language as it's reduced to texts and sound bites -- cultural DEI engineering labeling anything contrary as wrongful thinking, the precursor to thoughtcrime
The poems are quite famous traditional British poems. Oranges and Lemons describes the sound of the bells at different famous churches around London. It and under the spreading chestnut tree are poems you would learn growing up.
Gorge Orwell himself was a socialist, even fought in the Spanish civil war, but learned to hate Communists during that war too. specifically Stalinists. Orwell was also very prophetic in the book, talking about black markets and shortages and deliberate hoarding of goods - what afflicted the agricultural system in the Soviet Union. We have that problem to this day in Egypt!
Now that you've seen this, a great one to watch is Terry Gillian's _Brazil._ It's his own artistic and demented take on this theme. His ending is better than what the studio forced him to tack on--not that his ending is happier, it just fits.
Yes, I was just about to suggest the same Both are great movies, but I've always thought that the uncaring apathy, bureaucracy and institutional incompetence in Gilliam's vision of a totalitarian future was far more realistic than Orwells. Perhaps the British government was just a lot more competent in the 1940's then than they were in the 1980's.
Hey Miranda. It's part of an old English nursery rhyme. "Oranges and lemons", said the bells of St Clemens, "You owe me five farthings", said the bells of St Martins. "When will you pay me?", said the bells of Old Bailey, "When I grow rich.", said the bells of Shoreditch. I wonder if George Orwell imagined that he was writing the playbook for the American Democrat Party.
I watched this when i was 15 many moons ago and it was a boring day and i watched this movie probably to most people seem on to be boring , but to me it altered my life and changed how i saw society and opened my mind up to how powerful propaganda was, i am blown away that someone has reacted to this
The coincidental posting of this reaction during the approach to the U.S. elections is enough to attract the interest of those who understand 1984's message and give pause to reflect on this "fork in the road" moment in history.
Individual Freedom is the Scariest thing in Existence to Any and All Government's, And Critical Thinking is not to be Tolerated, how Dare you, The Bureaucratic State is the Only thing you will Crave, so Exciting for the Followers of the Ism's, I Mean Government did create Life or at the Very Least they need you to Believe they Did and Of Course you Need to Give thanks for Government, or another Course of Human History is undoing the Bureaucratic State System, that sounds Freeing and Uplifting
The final page of the novel's appendix - written from the perspective of some unspecified future looking back on the era of Big Brother - includes a translation into Newspeak of the passage from the Declaration of Independence beginning, "We hold these truths to be self-evident". The entire section translates as one single word: "crimethink". What really made it obvious that our reality had morphed wholesale into some dreadful, unironic, dystopian meme was when in 2017/18 (I forget the exact date), someone posted that same passage quite innocently on Facebook, and had it taken down for being "hate speech". True story.
For years, I have been waiting for this day that someone would finally do a reaction to the film adaptation of George Orwell’s immortal, dystopian, science fiction masterpiece! I’ve been waiting at the very least, four years for this day to finally happen and at long last that day is today on Saturday October 12, 2024. And I always knew that the minute someone finally did a reaction to it, sooner or later it’s gonna cause other RUclipsrs to want to do a reaction to it as well because that’s what happens when one person does a reaction to an interesting movie on RUclips, sooner or later it causes a domino effect of more and more people wanting to react to this movie, which causes other people to want to react to this movie and so on and so forth.
I agree. Sadly most reactors parrot the platform without understanding: If I just saw a reaction to * yesterday, what makes them think I want to see that again today - or even this month for that matter? It's almost a comical adaption of dogs chasing cars.
Indeed. And even then, its often based on what rates best. Almost everyone will do well-known movies but will avoid lesser-known classics because it never seemed to get the previous reactor many views. The real ones are the ones that watch & upload those 'less popular' movies because they actually enjoy it, even if they know it won't draw 100k+ viewers like a very well known movie (ie Saving Private Ryan, Goodfellas. Etc) EDIT: SPR & Goodfellas are damn amazing movies, but they're often over-saturated with reaction channels who know films like those will get them tons of views and subs.
Another great reaction! Richard Burton, who plays O'Brien, was one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. He made a huge splash with his Hamlet on Broadway (1964), and gave Academy Award-nominated performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), My Cousin Rachel (1952), The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came in from The Cold (1965), Anne of a Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977). He also originated the role of King Arthur in the Broadway musical Camelot (1960), for which he received a Tony Award. By the time this film (Nineteen Eighty-Four) came out, he was a legend. His other work is well worth seeing. It is a curious and somewhat disturbing fact that more time has now gone by since 1984 (40 years) than between the 1948 publication of the novel and 1984 (36 years).
Orwell's novel and this film definitely echo in this age of mass rallies centered on a cult of personality, demonizing of "the other", and the embrace of "alternative facts". We are being told that 2+2 may very well equal 5, depending on who asserts it.
Yes, we're been told that men can be women, and women can be men, and we accepted it. We've been told that there are more than two sexes, and we believed it. We're been told that there is no good or evil, and we've been fine with it. Orwell was right, and we're well on our way.
@@michaeldavis2001 "We've been told that there are more than two sexes" - Well, it's not at all clear that everyone can be categorized in two sexes. Intersex conditions muddy the waters.
@@davidm1926 Contrary to 'popular' opinion, intersex persons are NOT of both sexes, nor are they a third sex. Like a person born without limbs, they are a small percentage that does not change the norm. Do you know someone who is lntersex?
@@michaeldavis2001 "Contrary to 'popular' opinion" - I prefer to deal in facts. "intersex persons are NOT of both sexes, nor are they a third sex." - Which is consistent with my factual claim - it's not at all clear that everyone can be categorized in two sexes. "they are a small percentage that does not change the norm." - Irrelevant. They exist. I question merely the universality of the norm, not its existence - but maybe you wouldn't actually disagree with me about that. "Do you know someone who is lntersex?" - Not as far as I know. Intersex conditions are very rare. My personal knowledge of their experiences are limited to a few people I've seen on youtube, and a little media I've consumed from intersex advocacy groups.
When I saw the movie, when it came out, I had already read the book twice. I'ta a devastating piece of literature and the movie is a very good adaptation. It's visually very beautiful. I really enjoyed your very tasteful reaction. It's not an obvious film to react to.
This must be the first reaction video to this epic movie. This alone warrants a sub! The fact that this was filmed in 1984 during the exact time laid out in the book makes it so much more valuable. Old drunk Mr Burton delivering one of his finest performances, just weeks from his death.
In 2024 it looks very different and sounds different, but the mind's & hearts of 1984 are exactly the same. Human kind never truely change's from century to century. Only the technology changes. Now they can track you better than in 1984 they couldn't have imagined what we can do today😊
1984 is a great, important, movie with brilliant performances and production, and crucial lessons about politics and human nature. Unfortunately, it's so damned depressing that it's difficult to watch more than once. Perhaps it would be less oppressive if it was viewed as part of a Dystop-A-Fest double feature with something like The Death Of Stalin or Brazil.
My mother read this when she was a teenager when it was first published in '49.She said it scared the hell out of her.When I read it...many years later...kind of spooked me too.
I agree. I read both of those in my late teens to early twenties. But, to be honest, I thought the books were ridiculous until I started studying Soviet history. After that, those two books became frightening.
Let's not forget that Orwell detested Communism, but let's recall that he also detested the Far Right and Fascism, seeing them as two sides of the same coin, and using similar methods.
Well, really, Orwell did got to Spain during the Civil War to fight on the Communist side (Homage to Catalonia - his experience) and he did travel to the USSR - yet after WW2, Orwell (not his real name) write "1984" due to what he feared from both of the two political ideology. He didn't live long after this novel.
Director Michael Radford apparently asked Richard Burton many times to tone down that trademark booming voice of his, and as a result managed to get probably my favourite performance out of him. Desperately ill as he was (and died shortly after his scenes were completed), there's something truly chilling about his understated portrayal of O'Brien. Restrained and implacable. The dispassionate face of inevitability. The regime personified. What a film to go out on.
What Orwell was really getting at is the need to get away from authoritarianism. Right or left wing. It's not anti-soclialist. Orwell was on the anti-authroitarian left.
Miranda, not sure if you realize this but, right now you live in a world that constantly sensors reality? It’s called the internet. It looks a little different because the screens aren’t on the walls, they’re in everyone’s hands…the only difference.
I get what you’re saying, but I’m not sure I /quite/ buy that analogy; not entirely. Certainly there are sites on the internet which censor and/or misinform just like some dead tree publications in meatspace do. And there are governments which restrict which bits of the internet are allowed into their respective populations. But the internet /itself/ isn’t censored. There’s nothing stopping me from putting anything out there that I want to, and very little stopping a person who is truly determined to do so from seeing it.
@@noahrobin1941 True, an overly generalized statement on my part. Nothing is completely good nor bad, all depends on the time and place plus, 1984 is really just a huge metaphor made by someone influenced by their specific environment and experience. It’s the parallels that get me, depending on who’s in charge or has the most influence, seem to use the same tactics described in the story. IE the Cold War, white washing of history I was taught in school to, now claiming Cleopatra was black, etc etc.
@@D.A.B-w7n Smartphones are a tool that can very certainly be used to go after people. Contact tracing can be used to find people that took part in a protest or even a riot. A smartphone when in proximity to other phones, will talk to each other, and this data can be used to track people down. Once one person is arrested, they use that individuals phone to find everyone else, or if there was a Cop or Fed in the crowd with a phone, they can use that phone to get everyone that came within proximity. That's how people that left their homes during the 2020 lock-downs were discovered and fined, and how the people from January 6 were all tracked down, even people that were simply outside the capital and never entered.
Have you watched The Elephant Man by David Lynch? It stars John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, and won a bunch of other awards. It's a masterpiece of a movie, and one I feel everyone should watch at least once. It's based on a true story. If you haven't seen it, and are interested in watching it on your channel, go into it blind. It's a movie that benefits from avoiding all spoilers.
From The Two-Minute Hate to a One-Hour-Like. Great reaction! Actually,, Winston doesn't get shot at the end of the book. His "punishment" is that he truly ends up loving Big Brother, because The State ended up defeating and owning his mind and soul. The last words of the novel was the tragic, pathetic sentence: "He loved Big Brother."
Wow, some heavy fare for reaction but, good for you. I heard that this novel is no longer required reading in schools today, which I believe is criminal, so the more people exposed to this warning, the better. Keep it up👍
@@D.A.B-w7n MacDonough's Song, The Old Issue, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, The Last of the Light Brigade, The Hymn of Breaking Strain, The Conundrum of the Workshops, the Sons of Martha, The Hymn of Breaking Strain, The Truce of the Bear... for starters.
My favorite Orwell books are non-fiction, _Down and Out in Paris and London_ and _Homage to Catalonia._ Reading those books gives a background to his politics.
There is a reason for the existence of Public Libraries, and for a long time, Microform and Microfiche readers were common ways to store old newspaper articles dating back decades. I used Microfiche in high school, but by college, still pre-internet, copy machines, scanners, and digital storage (discs) were beginning to find their way into archives.
I like the old analog stuff. While it's not as easy to search, it's also not as easy to keystroke / memory hole information either. And I always enjoy watching movies where people have to search through old Microfiche readers to find clues to their mystery.
@@MirandaLikestoWatch My wife during the 80's made microfilm for The county count house. watching one day I found it sad that they were tearing apart juvenal records and microfilming the books from late 19th and early 20th century records. They never forget anything you did even after 100 years as a kid.
@MirandaLikestoWatch Agreed, memory holing is so easy now, a particular example being Internet Archive's vast history section being deleted by hackers recently. What is the motivation there, I wonder.
1:01:23 -- RE: 1984 in 1984; Fun Fact! British graphic novel writer Alan Moore speculates that Orwell was being facetious when he called it "1984" because it literally could be happening in 1948, and if the Party decides to flip the numbers around who is going to say it isn't 1984?
@chrisk.7418 I know, right. Imagine people thinking a govt might force you to stay home, or your employer may force you to get an unproven jab or else and you'd be shunned for not wearing a mask or separating 6 ft. Imagine that. Crazy.
@@OttoMack1 Yeah, imagine watching this movie, thinking your government is the same as in the movie, then writing that on the Internet, knowing you will be put into a torture chamber, having your individuality erased, and then will be shot.
@@chrisk.7418 Yeah imagine anyone noticing parallels/similarities occuring in any of the major democratic countries and the move towards an authoritarian state and this film. They'd probably imagine the film's govt started with legislation curtailing free speech and expression that leads to such a state. Those countries would use local constabularies to police online posts if that were the case. Ridiculous.
This was the second film I saw John Hurt in, after Alien. I thought he gave an excellent performance. This was also Richard Burton’s final film. Animal Farm was published in 1945. I think a lot of people had read that as kids. I remember it being required reading at school. The “more adult,”1984 was published in 1949, so I think it had been around long enough that the film assumes that people interested in watching the movie had read or were familiar with the book. There is a saying that goes, “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others,” I think perfectly describes the Soviet way of life. Funnily enough, I was in London in the Spring of 1984. The hotel I was staying at was near the imposing building they used as the exterior of the Ministry of Truth, which was the Senate House, just off Russell Square, which I frequently passed on a daily basis. I eerily felt a kind of dejà vu watching Nineteen Eighty-Four later that year
A great reaction and analysis or this film, Miranda. This film and 'V for Vendetta' are becoming more and more prevalent each and every day in the Western World, we the people are being censored, our news has been that way for many years, Governments aren't run for the benefit of the people any more. These are sobering thoughts.
It isn’t just Soviet history; the pattern of a system or leaders that dehumanizes entire groups of people and blames them for all of society’s problems, and justifies the use of violence against both the “outsiders” as well as the residents of a society, and instills paranoia and fear as acceptable elements of society, and suggests/forces the population to relinquish all control to either one leader or to one small group of people is a pattern repeated throughout time and in any location. The use of psychological manipulation and reliance on violence to control populations has been used many times. Because the book was written when there were concerns about Russia, etc., the film’s environment takes on the look of those concerns but the underlying issues both predate the Soviet era and apply today. Today’s world may not wear the identical clothing as in this film but the methods used for control, have been updated and modernized to accomplish similar goals. There is a powerful 1927 silent film from Germany titled “Metropolis” which delves into these issues, only a few years before Germany’s attempt to install fascism. Another complex film which also has a tragic ending and bleak point of view is the 1969 thriller from Greece titled “Z.”
7:34 It's funny you say that- as I did not like Winston Smith in the novel either. However I read "1984" *in* 1984 in my high school English class. It's been 40 years, but I recall thinking Winston was a coward. Now as an adult in my 50s I wonder if I would feel the same re-reading today.
Miranda I was just watching Katie Sackhoff (Starbuck from the early 2000s version of Battlestar Gallactica) interviewing Johnathan Frakes (Will Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation), and he sounded like they are still doing auditions for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which is a new show that's coming out, about, as one might imagine, Starfleet Academy. Maybe you could audition 🙂 Or direct an episode? 🙂 In the story, Starfleet Academy is the space version of the US Naval Academy, a university where, once you graduate, you are a Naval officer (in this case a Starfleet Officer). Starfleet Academy is supposedly in San Francisco. I always found that most of the coolest officers on submarines, the easiest ones to work with, went to the Naval Academy! One exception was our Weapons Officer, who went to Stanford University here in Silicon Valley (if you go to a civilian university you have to then go to Officer Candidate School, where the Marines yell at you). I think the show would probably involve people in space too, but maybe just around our solar system, I dunno. Star Trek Deep Space Nine was focused on a space station, but that involved space battles and stuff too. 🙂 I heard a lot of stuff about the Naval Academy...one thing they make you do is, you'll be eating (they teach you how to eat like a gentleman/lady, like which fork to use etc) and an instructor will come up and ask you a question about Naval history or tactics....if you get it wrong, you have to do pushups. lmao. I know at some point in your senior year, they have you spend a few weeks on a real ship, because they sent us a bunch of female cadets from the USNA on my boat once. I talked to them a lot but wasn't flirting or anything, I was being respectful, and I suspect that's why they were willing to interact, because a lot of guys were trying to sleep with them (which would have got both people in a LOT of trouble). They had a lot of questions for me about submarine duty and I tried to answer them all....toward the end I asked if anyone would serve on subs, and only the redhead said she would do it. But there are women on subs now, of all ranks....it started after I got out, in 2008. 🙂
1984 is imo the most important book everyone should read. It is really a dystopian story that we need to avoid. And then people start arguing that objective truth does not exist so therfor 2+2 can equal 5. Then we have a problem. Great reaction, I hope more people watch 1984.
Brazil is a must watch following this up. It is one of the greatest movies ever made, and it's even slightly a Monty Python movie. Cannot recommend it highly enough for classic, strange, gorgeous, scifi dystopia. It is the epitome.
Terry Gilliam's _Brazil_ was made the same year as _1984_ and shares many of its dystopian themes and details but with a satirical/absurdist style. I think you'd enjoy it very much. Just avoid the "Love Conquers All" version, the result of Universal editing the movie down to provide a happy ending.
Brave choice. This is a real (not) sci-fi horror movie, instead of Alien. John Hurt is great portraying Winston. Unfortunately this "dystopian" world is not far from ours at all. Most western countries (not to mention eastern) can not exclude themselves from this narrative.
Great film! I'm pretty sure that you're the first reactor on RUclips so congrats. As THissobeautiful has already posted - doubleplusgood! Choco ration up from 20 to 25g
One of my other favorite Richard Burton films is "the spy who came in from the cold" (John le'Carre -novel). And, John Hurt, an incredible actor - also Caligula, The Elephant Man, and a Doctor Who.
The movie is good but not as impactful as the book. Probably the most terrifying monologue I ever read was O'Brien's which ended in "A Boot stamping on a human face forever". But the power of that monologue didn't make it into the movie. Instead, Richard Burton plays O'Brien as if he's been broken by Big Brother as much as Winston is about to be. It's still a good scene ... but it's the book version that stuck with me.
I don't think it's a confusing world to live in, I think it's just more....fluid. Truth and fact aren't things you hold in your head, they're more ephemeral, they're what is in front of you at that moment, what you're told. It's an important difference between 1984 and our current situation. We are told both truth and lies and pick what we choose to believe, or we are flooded with outrageous lies until we're overwhelmed to the point where the truth gets lost in the shuffle. In 1984 they are conditioned to believe, they don't question, there is no why, just assent.
This is one of the best novel adaptations ever. John Hurt is a terrific Winston, and the overall dreary, soul-sucking malaise is perfectly depicted. Also Gregor Fisher is great as sweaty Parsons.
I always found this story interesting. Long before the year 1984 was reached, I could see it coming, and we are almost completely there. It is coming in so slowly that people don't realize it. The book just had the wrong year. Him getting shot in the book was figurative, not real. His old way of thinking was killed. Remember, Big Brother is watching.
I remember that first speech scene really resonating with me in the book. The man angrily making a speech about hating a certain group of people and the crowd collectively hating them in response, then the man gets a message and in the same breath redirects the hate at a different group of people, to which the young crowd immediately switches their hate towards. Feels similar to some modern day rhetoric, one day people are being told to hate trans people and the next day they are told to hate migrants. George Orwell called it.
You might find this tidbit interesting. The actor John Hurt, as the character of Winston Smith, had a role as the Big Brother tyrant in the dystopian film "V for Vendetta" (IMBD 8.1).
The sad part I am seeing many part of this in modern society starting up. Think about how much we are almost forced for constant media and it and controlled by few media outlets such as twitter Facebook, the news ticktack, and Hollywood and now many others in gaming. Not to mention Microsoft and google and other big teck conglomerates
We had to read 1984 and watch the 1954 TV adaptation in Middle School. We had to read Animal Farm and watch the CIA funded Cartoon in Infant School. These are not Children's Stories, Perhaps this explains why these high concept stories are misunderstood and shunned by so many British adults who grew up in the 1970s. "Big Brother is watching you" is probably the most misinterpreted and abused aspect of Orwell's work .Scientology is a reasonable facsimile of what the phrase entails, rather than CCTV surveillance and the Channel 4 TV show. Today, I still find these works to be extremely gruelling, although their warnings are probably more pertinent than ever.
You mention Russian overtones, but there are equally enough 1930-40's Germany in there as well, with children being programmed to turn in family and neighbors, etc.
I read the novel in late 1983. I was reading above my grade level. I learned about 1984, (born in 1969 -Middle School) I thought if "everything changed in the next year, I would be prepared. I understood most of the novel. Then learning a film was being made, I made sure to go. There had been a BBC adaption, in the late 50's (not easy to view, back then; less home media. And, also another movie, which I don't like at all - there was a rather plum actor playing Winston, and the woman who was Julia wore a nice dress -This world is a Hell. So, this movie is a perfect adaptation. Originally, half the music was by The Eurythmics. Virgin Music/Film funded this film. The Director did not like having music forced on him. The Eurythmics did some instrumental, a gentle ballad "Julia" -the big song was "Sex Crime -played over the end titles. American Radio would not play "Sex Crime" had a video on MTV. The city locations were in London -the rally's in a Palace that was destroyed, and later rebuilt. The area where Winston live, east London was an old gas refinery. It had been used in a John Wayne film (early 70's) It still in some function for the James Bond "for your eyes only" (opening scenes) - it would be largely destroyed by Stanley Kubrick as the battle of Hue in Vietnam in "Full Metal Jacket" - when the area was cleared the giant concert venue in east London, the Millennium Dome was built on the site.
Oh, I didn't know there was a graphic novel for 1984. I guess it makes sense there would be. Once the language is "perfected", we'll have the pictures to tell us what's going on. It's future proof =P
Dar Miranda, sorry for my late comments. Was watching your 'Lifefirce' reaction first. Great and detailed review, and like you I didn;t particularly like the book as a kid. That being said, living in Arabic countries, the novel helps you recognize things!
Winston actually had a wife in the book, though she was nothing like Julia. His wife was fully dedicated to the party, and the sex was stated to be boring, fast and uninteresting, she only regarded it as "her duty to the party" She went missing at some point, but they were still considered married. So it wasnt necessarily 'Winston sleeping with someone' rather it was: 'Winston cheating on his wife with a devout member of the Anti-Sex League'
I had the impression the war was just for show, and the other superstates were playing the same game to keep their docile productive and their aggressive few. Perpetual stalemate.
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mV5bGIswTtQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for watching a movie that's not a mainstream hit or based on a comic book! I hope more reaction channels start expanding their repertoire.
Concur. Thank you very much
The fact that this movie was shot at the exact time and location envisioned by the author gives it a chilling authenticity. Magnificent performances by John Hurt (Winston Smith), Richard Burton (O'Brien, his last role before his death) and Suzanna Hamilton (Julia). Excellent direction by Michael Radford and soundtrack by the Eurythmics.
In his final interview, George Orwell was asked what the moral of 1984 was.
He said "the moral? Don't let it happen".
Some would say that instead of avoiding it, we insured it!
Definitely one of the best translations of a classic book to cinema!
Thanks for bringing it forward.
Hey, Miranda! John Hurt later played the dictator of Britain in the Wachowski siblings' adaptation of Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" as a callback to his Orwellian role!
The hilarious parody of this movie is Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" which also functions as a biting satire.
The pulp grindhouse version of this would be John Carpenter's "They Live!".
The high-octane action version of this would be Kurt Wimmer's "Equilibrium" starring Christian Bale!
All four films are excellent!
The sobering reality is that Orwell predicted today's world! We are living "1984" but simply don't realize it.
-- endless war on terror
-- media controlled by a handful of companies
-- resurgent nationalism
-- demonizing xenophobia
-- political demagoguery
-- widening wealth gap creating a generational proletariat
-- cancel culture
-- radical wokeism defeminizing women and neutering men
-- anti-intellectualism celebrated as virtue
-- loss of language as it's reduced to texts and sound bites
-- cultural DEI engineering labeling anything contrary as wrongful thinking, the precursor to thoughtcrime
Oh, so someone else HAS noticed. You're absolutely right!
You're half right.
The poems are quite famous traditional British poems. Oranges and Lemons describes the sound of the bells at different famous churches around London. It and under the spreading chestnut tree are poems you would learn growing up.
Gorge Orwell himself was a socialist, even fought in the Spanish civil war, but learned to hate Communists during that war too. specifically Stalinists. Orwell was also very prophetic in the book, talking about black markets and shortages and deliberate hoarding of goods - what afflicted the agricultural system in the Soviet Union. We have that problem to this day in Egypt!
Now that you've seen this, a great one to watch is Terry Gillian's _Brazil._ It's his own artistic and demented take on this theme. His ending is better than what the studio forced him to tack on--not that his ending is happier, it just fits.
Yes, I was just about to suggest the same Both are great movies, but I've always thought that the uncaring apathy, bureaucracy and institutional incompetence in Gilliam's vision of a totalitarian future was far more realistic than Orwells. Perhaps the British government was just a lot more competent in the 1940's then than they were in the 1980's.
@@DaveF. everybody was more competent in the 1940s than in the 2020s...
Hey Miranda.
It's part of an old English nursery rhyme.
"Oranges and lemons", said the bells of St Clemens,
"You owe me five farthings", said the bells of St Martins.
"When will you pay me?", said the bells of Old Bailey,
"When I grow rich.", said the bells of Shoreditch.
I wonder if George Orwell imagined that he was writing the playbook for the American Democrat Party.
Oh, I'd never heard that before. Thanks =)
I read 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World and brush up on my logic every four years, generally.
We're a little late... but we're approaching it in some circles of society.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Demolition man shows a far more realistic version.
It's a shame that Orwell warned us, but we didn't see it coming.
And we're about to vote for it.
I watched this when i was 15 many moons ago and it was a boring day and i watched this movie probably to most people seem on to be boring , but to me it altered my life and changed how i saw society and opened my mind up to how powerful propaganda was, i am blown away that someone has reacted to this
The coincidental posting of this reaction during the approach to the U.S. elections is enough to attract the interest of those who understand 1984's message and give pause to reflect on this "fork in the road" moment in history.
Uh on. I don't want to go to room 101 =P
@@MirandaLikestoWatch How do you know you're not already there?
Indeed
Individual Freedom is the Scariest thing in Existence to Any and All Government's, And Critical Thinking is not to be Tolerated, how Dare you, The Bureaucratic State is the Only thing you will Crave, so Exciting for the Followers of the Ism's, I Mean Government did create Life or at the Very Least they need you to Believe they Did and Of Course you Need to Give thanks for Government, or another Course of Human History is undoing the Bureaucratic State System, that sounds Freeing and Uplifting
1984 was published in 1948; it was not about the future but about what was happening at the time.
The final page of the novel's appendix - written from the perspective of some unspecified future looking back on the era of Big Brother - includes a translation into Newspeak of the passage from the Declaration of Independence beginning, "We hold these truths to be self-evident". The entire section translates as one single word: "crimethink".
What really made it obvious that our reality had morphed wholesale into some dreadful, unironic, dystopian meme was when in 2017/18 (I forget the exact date), someone posted that same passage quite innocently on Facebook, and had it taken down for being "hate speech".
True story.
Great film. Epic book. Along with Animal Farm, one of the best books ever written.
Not just Soviet history...today's history in the U.S. is not far from it.
For years, I have been waiting for this day that someone would finally do a reaction to the film adaptation of George Orwell’s immortal, dystopian, science fiction masterpiece! I’ve been waiting at the very least, four years for this day to finally happen and at long last that day is today on Saturday October 12, 2024. And I always knew that the minute someone finally did a reaction to it, sooner or later it’s gonna cause other RUclipsrs to want to do a reaction to it as well because that’s what happens when one person does a reaction to an interesting movie on RUclips, sooner or later it causes a domino effect of more and more people wanting to react to this movie, which causes other people to want to react to this movie and so on and so forth.
I agree. Sadly most reactors parrot the platform without understanding: If I just saw a reaction to * yesterday, what makes them think I want to see that again today - or even this month for that matter? It's almost a comical adaption of dogs chasing cars.
Indeed. And even then, its often based on what rates best. Almost everyone will do well-known movies but will avoid lesser-known classics because it never seemed to get the previous reactor many views.
The real ones are the ones that watch & upload those 'less popular' movies because they actually enjoy it, even if they know it won't draw 100k+ viewers like a very well known movie (ie Saving Private Ryan, Goodfellas. Etc)
EDIT: SPR & Goodfellas are damn amazing movies, but they're often over-saturated with reaction channels who know films like those will get them tons of views and subs.
Another great reaction!
Richard Burton, who plays O'Brien, was one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. He made a huge splash with his Hamlet on Broadway (1964), and gave Academy Award-nominated performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), My Cousin Rachel (1952), The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came in from The Cold (1965), Anne of a Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977). He also originated the role of King Arthur in the Broadway musical Camelot (1960), for which he received a Tony Award. By the time this film (Nineteen Eighty-Four) came out, he was a legend. His other work is well worth seeing.
It is a curious and somewhat disturbing fact that more time has now gone by since 1984 (40 years) than between the 1948 publication of the novel and 1984 (36 years).
The excellent 1961 Twilight Zone episode "The Absolete Man" had similar themes packed into 25 minutes. Epic performance by Burgess Meredith.
Truly a great episode. I was going to mention this one myself. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Great acting in it as well.
Orwell's novel and this film definitely echo in this age of mass rallies centered on a cult of personality, demonizing of "the other", and the embrace of "alternative facts". We are being told that 2+2 may very well equal 5, depending on who asserts it.
yes, Orange Man bad! Slavery is freedom! Truth is misinformation!
Yes, we're been told that men can be women, and women can be men, and we accepted it. We've been told that there are more than two sexes, and we believed it. We're been told that there is no good or evil, and we've been fine with it.
Orwell was right, and we're well on our way.
@@michaeldavis2001 "We've been told that there are more than two sexes" - Well, it's not at all clear that everyone can be categorized in two sexes. Intersex conditions muddy the waters.
@@davidm1926 Contrary to 'popular' opinion, intersex persons are NOT of both sexes, nor are they a third sex. Like a person born without limbs, they are a small percentage that does not change the norm.
Do you know someone who is lntersex?
@@michaeldavis2001 "Contrary to 'popular' opinion" - I prefer to deal in facts.
"intersex persons are NOT of both sexes, nor are they a third sex." - Which is consistent with my factual claim - it's not at all clear that everyone can be categorized in two sexes.
"they are a small percentage that does not change the norm." - Irrelevant. They exist. I question merely the universality of the norm, not its existence - but maybe you wouldn't actually disagree with me about that.
"Do you know someone who is lntersex?" - Not as far as I know. Intersex conditions are very rare. My personal knowledge of their experiences are limited to a few people I've seen on youtube, and a little media I've consumed from intersex advocacy groups.
When I saw the movie, when it came out, I had already read the book twice. I'ta a devastating piece of literature and the movie is a very good adaptation. It's visually very beautiful. I really enjoyed your very tasteful reaction. It's not an obvious film to react to.
This must be the first reaction video to this epic movie. This alone warrants a sub!
The fact that this was filmed in 1984 during the exact time laid out in the book makes it so much more valuable. Old drunk Mr Burton delivering one of his finest performances, just weeks from his death.
In 2024 it looks very different and sounds different, but the mind's & hearts of 1984 are exactly the same. Human kind never truely change's from century to century. Only the technology changes. Now they can track you better than in 1984 they couldn't have imagined what we can do today😊
I don't read much, but this was a book I read, also, Brave new world, Fahrenheit 451
1984 is a great, important, movie with brilliant performances and production, and crucial lessons about politics and human nature. Unfortunately, it's so damned depressing that it's difficult to watch more than once. Perhaps it would be less oppressive if it was viewed as part of a Dystop-A-Fest double feature with something like The Death Of Stalin or Brazil.
One of my favorite books.
My mother read this when she was a teenager when it was first published in '49.She said it scared the hell out of her.When I read it...many years later...kind of spooked me too.
1984 and Brave New World are the books that everybody should read in their life
Those books are against the party and seditious
I don't need to read them. I am experiencing them every day a Democrat is in charge.
And Animal Farm.
I agree. I read both of those in my late teens to early twenties. But, to be honest, I thought the books were ridiculous until I started studying Soviet history. After that, those two books became frightening.
@@MirandaLikestoWatch Watched "The Death of Stalin" yet?
Let's not forget that Orwell detested Communism, but let's recall that he also detested the Far Right and Fascism, seeing them as two sides of the same coin, and using similar methods.
Well, really, Orwell did got to Spain during the Civil War to fight on the Communist side (Homage to Catalonia - his experience) and he did travel to the USSR - yet after WW2, Orwell (not his real name) write "1984" due to what he feared from both of the two political ideology. He didn't live long after this novel.
They're both heavily based in top-down Socialist ideals. He was correct in saying they're of the same coin.
Director Michael Radford apparently asked Richard Burton many times to tone down that trademark booming voice of his, and as a result managed to get probably my favourite performance out of him. Desperately ill as he was (and died shortly after his scenes were completed), there's something truly chilling about his understated portrayal of O'Brien. Restrained and implacable. The dispassionate face of inevitability. The regime personified. What a film to go out on.
Winston is NOT shot in the novel. Nor is it my belief that is the ultimate outcome for
these individuals who are "rehabilitated" by the party.
Kier Starmer's favourite film.
I AM ACTUALLY READING THE BOOK. In the book, everyone is a "comrade" not "brother". (makers probably thought it sounded too communist). x
This one is better to read than watch if you ask me.
What Orwell was really getting at is the need to get away from authoritarianism. Right or left wing. It's not anti-soclialist. Orwell was on the anti-authroitarian left.
Miranda, not sure if you realize this but, right now you live in a world that constantly sensors reality? It’s called the internet. It looks a little different because the screens aren’t on the walls, they’re in everyone’s hands…the only difference.
I get what you’re saying, but I’m not sure I /quite/ buy that analogy; not entirely. Certainly there are sites on the internet which censor and/or misinform just like some dead tree publications in meatspace do. And there are governments which restrict which bits of the internet are allowed into their respective populations. But the internet /itself/ isn’t censored. There’s nothing stopping me from putting anything out there that I want to, and very little stopping a person who is truly determined to do so from seeing it.
@@noahrobin1941 True, an overly generalized statement on my part. Nothing is completely good nor bad, all depends on the time and place plus, 1984 is really just a huge metaphor made by someone influenced by their specific environment and experience. It’s the parallels that get me, depending on who’s in charge or has the most influence, seem to use the same tactics described in the story. IE the Cold War, white washing of history I was taught in school to, now claiming Cleopatra was black, etc etc.
@@D.A.B-w7n Smartphones are a tool that can very certainly be used to go after people. Contact tracing can be used to find people that took part in a protest or even a riot. A smartphone when in proximity to other phones, will talk to each other, and this data can be used to track people down.
Once one person is arrested, they use that individuals phone to find everyone else, or if there was a Cop or Fed in the crowd with a phone, they can use that phone to get everyone that came within proximity.
That's how people that left their homes during the 2020 lock-downs were discovered and fined, and how the people from January 6 were all tracked down, even people that were simply outside the capital and never entered.
Even smart TVs.
In Soviet Amerika, Television Watch YOU!
@@BH6242KCh 🤣
Have you watched The Elephant Man by David Lynch? It stars John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, and won a bunch of other awards. It's a masterpiece of a movie, and one I feel everyone should watch at least once. It's based on a true story. If you haven't seen it, and are interested in watching it on your channel, go into it blind. It's a movie that benefits from avoiding all spoilers.
Is it a spoiler to know that both are about preserving your humanity?
@@brianboye8025 I wouldn't call that a spoiler.
From The Two-Minute Hate to a One-Hour-Like. Great reaction! Actually,, Winston doesn't get shot at the end of the book. His "punishment" is that he truly ends up loving Big Brother, because The State ended up defeating and owning his mind and soul. The last words of the novel was the tragic, pathetic sentence: "He loved Big Brother."
But it is implied that he will eventually be shot when he no longer serves as an example for Big Brother.
@@gnericgnome4214 Touche
Wow, some heavy fare for reaction but, good for you. I heard that this novel is no longer required reading in schools today, which I believe is criminal, so the more people exposed to this warning, the better. Keep it up👍
Those are my thoughts as well =)
I know. If this and the works of Rudyard Kipling where required reading in school, oppressive gov't would become impossible.
@@gnericgnome4214 Haven’t read Kipling in a long time, sadly. Need to revisit his work.
@@D.A.B-w7n MacDonough's Song, The Old Issue, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, The Last of the Light Brigade, The Hymn of Breaking Strain, The Conundrum of the Workshops, the Sons of Martha, The Hymn of Breaking Strain, The Truce of the Bear... for starters.
@@gnericgnome4214 Feel like I’m back in school and was just handed my Summer reading list!🤪 Thanks.
My favorite Orwell books are non-fiction, _Down and Out in Paris and London_ and _Homage to Catalonia._ Reading those books gives a background to his politics.
_Down and Out_ reminds us to be nice to servers in restaurants...
What a presence Richard Burton had.
I think it was mostly his voice.
His last role bar the tv miniseries "Ellis Island "🎩
@@brianboye8025 His body appeared in the films too.
There is a reason for the existence of Public Libraries, and for a long time, Microform and Microfiche readers were common ways to store old newspaper articles dating back decades. I used Microfiche in high school, but by college, still pre-internet, copy machines, scanners, and digital storage (discs) were beginning to find their way into archives.
I like the old analog stuff. While it's not as easy to search, it's also not as easy to keystroke / memory hole information either. And I always enjoy watching movies where people have to search through old Microfiche readers to find clues to their mystery.
@@MirandaLikestoWatch My wife during the 80's made microfilm for The county count house. watching one day I found it sad that they were tearing apart juvenal records and microfilming the books from late 19th and early 20th century records. They never forget anything you did even after 100 years as a kid.
@MirandaLikestoWatch Agreed, memory holing is so easy now, a particular example being Internet Archive's vast history section being deleted by hackers recently. What is the motivation there, I wonder.
Richard Burton's last movie
Hell of a final film!
1:01:23 -- RE: 1984 in 1984; Fun Fact! British graphic novel writer Alan Moore speculates that Orwell was being facetious when he called it "1984" because it literally could be happening in 1948, and if the Party decides to flip the numbers around who is going to say it isn't 1984?
Oh, that's an interesting take. I know Orwell believed that a lot of it WAS taking place in the Soviet Union when he wrote the book.
and RIP Richard Burton (not the Victorian explorer) who died in 1984...
INGSOC means English Socialism--the ruling body of Big Brother
1984 seems to have come true today.
I cannot fathom how some could watch this movie and still make that statement.
@@chrisk.7418 : I cannot fathom how anyone could watch this film and NOT make that statement.
@chrisk.7418 I know, right. Imagine people thinking a govt might force you to stay home, or your employer may force you to get an unproven jab or else and you'd be shunned for not wearing a mask or separating 6 ft. Imagine that. Crazy.
@@OttoMack1 Yeah, imagine watching this movie, thinking your government is the same as in the movie, then writing that on the Internet, knowing you will be put into a torture chamber, having your individuality erased, and then will be shot.
@@chrisk.7418 Yeah imagine anyone noticing parallels/similarities occuring in any of the major democratic countries and the move towards an authoritarian state and this film.
They'd probably imagine the film's govt started with legislation curtailing free speech and expression that leads to such a state. Those countries would use local constabularies to police online posts if that were the case. Ridiculous.
This was the second film I saw John Hurt in, after Alien. I thought he gave an excellent performance. This was also Richard Burton’s final film.
Animal Farm was published in 1945. I think a lot of people had read that as kids. I remember it being required reading at school. The “more adult,”1984 was published in 1949, so I think it had been around long enough that the film assumes that people interested in watching the movie had read or were familiar with the book.
There is a saying that goes, “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others,” I think perfectly describes the Soviet way of life.
Funnily enough, I was in London in the Spring of 1984. The hotel I was staying at was near the imposing building they used as the exterior of the Ministry of Truth, which was the Senate House, just off Russell Square, which I frequently passed on a daily basis. I eerily felt a kind of dejà vu watching Nineteen Eighty-Four later that year
A great reaction and analysis or this film, Miranda. This film and 'V for Vendetta' are becoming more and more prevalent each and every day in the Western World, we the people are being censored, our news has been that way for many years, Governments aren't run for the benefit of the people any more. These are sobering thoughts.
Sadly yes.
It isn’t just Soviet history; the pattern of a system or leaders that dehumanizes entire groups of people and blames them for all of society’s problems, and justifies the use of violence against both the “outsiders” as well as the residents of a society, and instills paranoia and fear as acceptable elements of society, and suggests/forces the population to relinquish all control to either one leader or to one small group of people is a pattern repeated throughout time and in any location. The use of psychological manipulation and reliance on violence to control populations has been used many times. Because the book was written when there were concerns about Russia, etc., the film’s environment takes on the look of those concerns but the underlying issues both predate the Soviet era and apply today. Today’s world may not wear the identical clothing as in this film but the methods used for control, have been updated and modernized to accomplish similar goals. There is a powerful 1927 silent film from Germany titled “Metropolis” which delves into these issues, only a few years before Germany’s attempt to install fascism. Another complex film which also has a tragic ending and bleak point of view is the 1969 thriller from Greece titled “Z.”
The '56 B&W English version of 1984 was also very good !
Locations are all in London, England or within a few hours from London.
7:34 It's funny you say that- as I did not like Winston Smith in the novel either. However I read "1984" *in* 1984 in my high school English class. It's been 40 years, but I recall thinking Winston was a coward. Now as an adult in my 50s I wonder if I would feel the same re-reading today.
Miranda I was just watching Katie Sackhoff (Starbuck from the early 2000s version of Battlestar Gallactica) interviewing Johnathan Frakes (Will Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation), and he sounded like they are still doing auditions for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which is a new show that's coming out, about, as one might imagine, Starfleet Academy. Maybe you could audition 🙂 Or direct an episode? 🙂
In the story, Starfleet Academy is the space version of the US Naval Academy, a university where, once you graduate, you are a Naval officer (in this case a Starfleet Officer). Starfleet Academy is supposedly in San Francisco. I always found that most of the coolest officers on submarines, the easiest ones to work with, went to the Naval Academy! One exception was our Weapons Officer, who went to Stanford University here in Silicon Valley (if you go to a civilian university you have to then go to Officer Candidate School, where the Marines yell at you). I think the show would probably involve people in space too, but maybe just around our solar system, I dunno. Star Trek Deep Space Nine was focused on a space station, but that involved space battles and stuff too. 🙂 I heard a lot of stuff about the Naval Academy...one thing they make you do is, you'll be eating (they teach you how to eat like a gentleman/lady, like which fork to use etc) and an instructor will come up and ask you a question about Naval history or tactics....if you get it wrong, you have to do pushups. lmao. I know at some point in your senior year, they have you spend a few weeks on a real ship, because they sent us a bunch of female cadets from the USNA on my boat once. I talked to them a lot but wasn't flirting or anything, I was being respectful, and I suspect that's why they were willing to interact, because a lot of guys were trying to sleep with them (which would have got both people in a LOT of trouble). They had a lot of questions for me about submarine duty and I tried to answer them all....toward the end I asked if anyone would serve on subs, and only the redhead said she would do it. But there are women on subs now, of all ranks....it started after I got out, in 2008. 🙂
Double plus good.
1984 is imo the most important book everyone should read. It is really a dystopian story that we need to avoid.
And then people start arguing that objective truth does not exist so therfor 2+2 can equal 5. Then we have a problem.
Great reaction, I hope more people watch 1984.
It has been quite a few years since reading 1984, good to finally see the movie.
Same here. Watching this makes me want to reread it, though.
Brazil is a must watch following this up. It is one of the greatest movies ever made, and it's even slightly a Monty Python movie. Cannot recommend it highly enough for classic, strange, gorgeous, scifi dystopia. It is the epitome.
Terry Gilliam's _Brazil_ was made the same year as _1984_ and shares many of its dystopian themes and details but with a satirical/absurdist style. I think you'd enjoy it very much. Just avoid the "Love Conquers All" version, the result of Universal editing the movie down to provide a happy ending.
great reaction Miranda! 1984 always reminds me of that episode entitled "Non Citizen" from the TV series "1990" starring Edward Woodward 😉
ruclips.net/video/WTpsU8rmieY/видео.htmlsi=DmPgHU57xz4_cf5G
The Thought Police Chief is the famous Irish actor Cyril Cusack, who was also the father-in-law of Jeremy Irons.
Brave choice. This is a real (not) sci-fi horror movie, instead of Alien. John Hurt is great portraying Winston. Unfortunately this "dystopian" world is not far from ours at all. Most western countries (not to mention eastern) can not exclude themselves from this narrative.
Great film! I'm pretty sure that you're the first reactor on RUclips so congrats. As THissobeautiful has already posted - doubleplusgood! Choco ration up from 20 to 25g
This is has a lot of lessons for today.
I think the endless whimsical wars and the language police yes!
Oh yeah, the destruction of the family.
One of my other favorite Richard Burton films is "the spy who came in from the cold" (John le'Carre -novel). And, John Hurt, an incredible actor - also Caligula, The Elephant Man, and a Doctor Who.
The movie is good but not as impactful as the book.
Probably the most terrifying monologue I ever read was O'Brien's which ended in "A Boot stamping on a human face forever". But the power of that monologue didn't make it into the movie.
Instead, Richard Burton plays O'Brien as if he's been broken by Big Brother as much as Winston is about to be. It's still a good scene ... but it's the book version that stuck with me.
I don't think it's a confusing world to live in, I think it's just more....fluid. Truth and fact aren't things you hold in your head, they're more ephemeral, they're what is in front of you at that moment, what you're told. It's an important difference between 1984 and our current situation. We are told both truth and lies and pick what we choose to believe, or we are flooded with outrageous lies until we're overwhelmed to the point where the truth gets lost in the shuffle. In 1984 they are conditioned to believe, they don't question, there is no why, just assent.
Wonderful film with only one major miscalculation; the type of world to be ushered in is a sex-positive nightmare rather than a sex-negative one
Wrong.
@@haps2019 nuh uh
This is one of the best novel adaptations ever. John Hurt is a terrific Winston, and the overall dreary, soul-sucking malaise is perfectly depicted. Also Gregor Fisher is great as sweaty Parsons.
Your reaction was double plus good.
Sadly enough youth today are being used somewhat the same, 2024 version instead.
...yes, the rendering is exquisite!
If you haven't seen it, watch "V For Vendetta", a very similar dystopian life. More hopeful.
I always found this story interesting. Long before the year 1984 was reached, I could see it coming, and we are almost completely there. It is coming in so slowly that people don't realize it. The book just had the wrong year.
Him getting shot in the book was figurative, not real. His old way of thinking was killed.
Remember, Big Brother is watching.
Best of luck with your channel!!
The old man , chief of the THOUGHT POLICE is also the chief mean person in the 60's version of Fahrenheit 451 !!!!! INTERESTING 😄😄😄😄😄
26:17 This was LITERALLY argued just a couple years ago that 2+2=5.
Let's F****** Go! luv your reactions Miranda...
I remember that first speech scene really resonating with me in the book. The man angrily making a speech about hating a certain group of people and the crowd collectively hating them in response, then the man gets a message and in the same breath redirects the hate at a different group of people, to which the young crowd immediately switches their hate towards.
Feels similar to some modern day rhetoric, one day people are being told to hate trans people and the next day they are told to hate migrants. George Orwell called it.
You might find this tidbit interesting. The actor John Hurt, as the character of Winston Smith, had a role as the Big Brother tyrant in the dystopian film "V for Vendetta" (IMBD 8.1).
If i remember right the Eurythmics did the music for the movie. Need to check though.
The sad part I am seeing many part of this in modern society starting up. Think about how much we are almost forced for constant media and it and controlled by few media outlets such as twitter Facebook, the news ticktack, and Hollywood and now many others in gaming. Not to mention Microsoft and google and other big teck conglomerates
We had to read 1984 and watch the 1954 TV adaptation in Middle School. We had to read Animal Farm and watch the CIA funded Cartoon in Infant School.
These are not Children's Stories,
Perhaps this explains why these high concept stories are misunderstood and shunned by so many British adults who grew up in the 1970s.
"Big Brother is watching you" is probably the most misinterpreted and abused aspect of Orwell's work .Scientology is a reasonable facsimile of what the phrase entails, rather than CCTV surveillance and the Channel 4 TV show.
Today, I still find these works to be extremely gruelling, although their warnings are probably more pertinent than ever.
What a great choice for a first watch movie reaction
Thank you! It doesn't seem like many people have done reactions to this one.
Free thanks to the brave indeed
Love this reaction, thanks for the new vid
You mention Russian overtones, but there are equally enough 1930-40's Germany in there as well, with children being programmed to turn in family and neighbors, etc.
I read the novel in late 1983. I was reading above my grade level. I learned about 1984, (born in 1969 -Middle School) I thought if "everything changed in the next year, I would be prepared. I understood most of the novel. Then learning a film was being made, I made sure to go. There had been a BBC adaption, in the late 50's (not easy to view, back then; less home media. And, also another movie, which I don't like at all - there was a rather plum actor playing Winston, and the woman who was Julia wore a nice dress -This world is a Hell. So, this movie is a perfect adaptation.
Originally, half the music was by The Eurythmics. Virgin Music/Film funded this film. The Director did not like having music forced on him. The Eurythmics did some instrumental, a gentle ballad "Julia" -the big song was "Sex Crime -played over the end titles. American Radio would not play "Sex Crime" had a video on MTV.
The city locations were in London -the rally's in a Palace that was destroyed, and later rebuilt. The area where Winston live, east London was an old gas refinery. It had been used in a John Wayne film (early 70's) It still in some function for the James Bond "for your eyes only" (opening scenes) - it would be largely destroyed by Stanley Kubrick as the battle of Hue in Vietnam in "Full Metal Jacket" - when the area was cleared the giant concert venue in east London, the Millennium Dome was built on the site.
I love that he has the roll reversal in V for vendetta
I recently read a "1984" Graphic Novel and managed to get a lot out of it.
Very enjoyable.
Oh, I didn't know there was a graphic novel for 1984. I guess it makes sense there would be. Once the language is "perfected", we'll have the pictures to tell us what's going on. It's future proof =P
I read this book decades ago; wasn't aware of the movie. Good catch.
There`s also an older movie version from 1958 I believe. Also very good.
One of DP Roger Deakins' early feature films. Before Shawshank, before his collaborations with the Coen Bros and Villeneuve.
He did a great job here.
Read the book, watched the movie, watched the reaction. Just subscribed.
Dar Miranda, sorry for my late comments. Was watching your 'Lifefirce' reaction first. Great and detailed review, and like you I didn;t particularly like the book as a kid. That being said, living in Arabic countries, the novel helps you recognize things!
Filmed during the same time period in 1984 as the film was set.
Top Tier most quotable movies of all time, particularly these past few years.
Orwell was a socialist who recognized that in the hands of mankind, it tends to go to authoritarianism and totalitarianism.
This isn't sci-fi, it's a prediction and it's happening right now.
Winston actually had a wife in the book, though she was nothing like Julia.
His wife was fully dedicated to the party, and the sex was stated to be boring, fast and uninteresting, she only regarded it as "her duty to the party"
She went missing at some point, but they were still considered married.
So it wasnt necessarily 'Winston sleeping with someone' rather it was: 'Winston cheating on his wife with a devout member of the Anti-Sex League'
Very appropriate for present times.
I had the impression the war was just for show, and the other superstates were playing the same game to keep their docile productive and their aggressive few. Perpetual stalemate.