FILM FRENZY

1984 (Photo: Virgin Films)

By Matt Brunson

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1984)
★★★ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Michael Radford
STARS John Hurt, Richard Burton

George Orwell’s 1948 literary masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four (aka 1984) found itself honored with two major productions in the actual year of 1984. The first was a stage play performed by students at the International School of Kenya in Nairobi, with the central role of Winston Smith played by … [checks notes] … yours truly (ha). The other version was this cinematic adaptation from writer-director Michael Radford (Il Postino), whose visuals capture the oppressive atmosphere of the novel even if his script can’t quite convey the sheer horror (and chilling wordplay) whipped up by Orwell.

The great cinematographer Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Blade Runner 2049) nabbed one of his earliest credits for this picture, providing a suitably desaturated look to this classic tale in which Winston (John Hurt) and Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), two workers toiling in a totalitarian state, engage in an illegal love affair before running afoul of Inner Party bigwig O’Brien (Richard Burton). Unlike the animated 1954 film version of Orwell’s Animal Farm, which absurdly tacked on a happy ending, this adaptation pulls very few punches.

The final decade-plus of Burton’s career found him earning awful notices for flop after flop (the only exceptions being 1977’s Equus, for which he earned his seventh and final Oscar nomination, and the 1978 international hit The Wild Geese), so it was gratifying to see him exit the scene with a fine performance in a fine film — he passed away four months after its release, felled by a brain hemorrhage at the age of 58.

(Nineteen Eighty-Four will be screened as part of The Independent Picture House’s Showtime Extra program at 7pm Thursday, April 4, at the theater, located at 4237 Raleigh St. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Casey Cothran, a professor of English at Winthrop University and a member of Charlotte’s Banned Book Reading Group. For more information, head here.)