From The Canopy BLOG

Elephant Man (1980, Director: David Lynch, Starring: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt)

See also: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/

Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (played by John Hurt), a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves (played by Anthony Hopkins), Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.

Favourite line: Whilst cornered in a public toilet by pushy onlookers, John Merrick exclaims:

“I am not an animal! I am a human being! I...am...a man!”

This film will pierce any viewer in the sternum and test the soul. There is a psychological shock and a deep human sadness that one experiences getting to know the one known as the “Elephant Man”. He was labelled a “freak” and thus the movie was a depiction of attitudes to physically and mentally handicapped people of the Victorian times. It was also an exploration into the hidden mind of a tormented soul. The cinematography brilliantly places a mystery behind the man John Merrick until the full extent of his disfigurement is revealed and later on his grasp of Biblical spirituality.

Despite the taunting, torture and loneliness there is a remarkable ability of the character to display care and forgiveness of others. As Dr. Treves seemed to declare aloud, who really is the monster? How easily are vulnerable people are exploited for personal gain! Perhaps it is a reflection of how even today some business, religious, society and government leaders go unpunished. We who are stuck in our perfectionist lives require great courage to reach out to these vulnerable, curious people whose ugliness after all is merely skin deep.

Incidentally, the real John Merrick never suffered from Elephantiasis as was previously claimed. It took almost a century for doctors to figure out that he suffered from Proteus syndrome. See the definition from http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/proteussyndrome/a/031301.htm:

Named for the Greek god who could change his shape, this rare hereditary disorder is characterized by multiple lesions of the lymph nodes (lipolymphohemangiomas), overgrowth of one side of the body (hemihypertrophy), an abnormally large head (macrocephaly), partial gigantism of the feet, and darkened spots or moles (nevi) on the skin. Merrick's appearance, and especially his skeleton, carry all the hallmarks of the disorder, although apparently an extremely severe case. His head was so large that the hat he wore measured three feet in circumference.

In the end, according to http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/proteussyndrome/a/031301.htm:

More than anything, Joseph Merrick wanted to be like other people. He often wished he could lie down and sleep, but because of the size and weight of his head he had to sleep sitting up. One morning in 1890 he was found lying down in bed on his back, dead. The weight of his head had crushed his windpipe, and he suffocated. He was 28 years old.

K.M.N.

posted by Swooshbaby @ 1:25 PM