Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

George Orwell (novel)
Michael Radford (written by)

Release Date:

14 December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

George Orwell's Terrifying Vision Comes To The Screen.

Plot:

George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

Plot Keywords:

Future | 1984 | Propaganda | Big Brother | Sex

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

John Hurt	...	Winston Smith
Richard Burton	...	O'Brien
Suzanna Hamilton	...	Julia
Cyril Cusack	...	Charrington
Gregor Fisher	...	Parsons
James Walker	...	Syme
Andrew Wilde	...	Tillotson
David Trevena	...	Tillotson's Friend
David Cann	...	Martin
Anthony Benson	...	Jones
Peter Frye	...	Rutherford
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Waiter (as Roger Lloyd Pack)
Rupert Baderman	...	Winston as a Boy
Corinna Seddon	...	Winston's Mother
Martha Parsey	...	Winston's Sister

Also Known As:

1984 (UK) (alternative spelling)
1984 (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
1984 (Finland) [fi]
1984 (Spain) [es]
1984 (Greece) [el]
1984 (West Germany) [de]
Neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig (West Germany) [de]
Orwell 1984 (Italy) [it]
Premonición 1984 (Argentina) [es]

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 (1984) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Alexandra Palace Way, London, England, UK

Company:

Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production

Trivia:

The Oceanian soldiers in the film are wearing Soviet Red Army helmets, painted black.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the rack torture scene, O'Brien removes Winston's front tooth. Later, in the rat mask torture scene, his tooth is back again. (However, in the book, Winston given dentures after O'Brien pulled the tooth, but this was not explained in the movie.)

Quotes:

[first lines]
Big Brother: [voiceover] This is our land. A land of peace and of plenty. A land of harmony and hope. This is our land. Oceania. These are our people. The workers, the strivers, the builders. These are our people. The builders of our world, struggling, fighting, bleeding, dying. On the streets of our cities and on the far-flung battlefields. Fighting against the mutilation of our hopes and dreams. Who are they?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Equilibrium (2002)

Soundtrack:

Sex Crime

Comments on Comments

I really have only one thing to comment on. Most of the other reviewers have stated just about everything about this wonderfully gritty, dark, foreboding movie that still remains an eerie parallel to our lives today, especially in the last 2 years...

But I'm confused by the number of people who have commented that claim to be put off by "the gratuitous nudity" by the two characters of Winston and Julia. Given the fact that everything in this society--waking up, food, habits, desires, work, workers, even the underwear and overalls--is so uniform, has it occurred to viewers that being nude was the only link to identity that these characters had? Everything in their world depends, thrives on sameness. Without clothes, everyone is unique. The two lovers were already in dire conditions by committing the sin of feeling for another human being, let alone carnally but in the heart. And they had to deceive and pretend and go through the motions of the dutiful cogs in the Big Brother wheel. But their only shared peace and comfort was their sacred time alone, and in love. They had finally found their own identities through loving each other. Their nudity was merely symbolic of that. In that sense, their union and expressions of that union only becomes more fragile, beautiful and honest, in such a heartless, cold, indifferent world.

May that be truly said of us, and all of us...

OK, that out of the way...one of the most gritty, realistic, honest translations ever to grace the screen. Wouldn't have changed a thing. Highly, highly recommended, along with the original 1955 version of "Animal Farm". Perfect double-feature for a somber, thoughtful evening's viewing.