There Aren't Enough Words To Describe The Virtues Of The Phenomenal The Elephant Man

"People fear what they don't understand" is an oft-repeated axiom that feels exemplified by the events depicted in David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man. I mean, look at where my own country, America, is right now. A President got elected by playing to people's ignorance and hatred of people slightly different from themselves. And this is far from the first time people of great power have gotten their high levels of authority by playing into humanities distrust of anything that dares to not adhere to the status quo. But those people who get mocked for being different are human beings, with a beating heart and dreams and their own personal ambitions that far too many refuse to acknowledge even exist.


The titular Elephant Man, known properly as John Merrick (a real life individual who existed in the 19th century played here by John Hurt) is a prime example of someone who was mocked mercilessly simply for being different from the rigid confines of what society defines as "normal". He is an individual that esteemed surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) simply wanted to utilize as a specimen with notable physical deformities for the students he teaches to gawk at. However, upon discovering that the man who takes care of and makes money off of John Merrick (by way of showing him off as a freak show attraction), Bytes (Freddie Jones), is physically abusive to poor John Merrick, Treves takes the poor man into his care, placing him in a secluded wing of his place of work.

From there, Treves learns that Merrick carries the ability to both speak and read, two abilities he's been deterred from utilizing due to Bytes treating him as simply an animal. From there, the two characters grow closer as Treves helps Merrick regain his humanity that's been (literally) beaten out of him over the years. It's an incredibly beautiful tale of compassion, pure and simple. The Elephant Man isn't naive enough to think that kindness innately will be the sole thing to help Merrick, there must also be dedication and hard work put into helping this man on the part of both John Merrick and Frederick Treves.

But it also recognizes the virtue of kindness as an element of human behavior that can make a great deal of difference in this world of ours. We see plenty of realistic cruelty in The Elephant Man, from Bytes abusive behavior towards John Merrick to a night guard who collects money from people in exchange for them to get the chance to gawk at Merrick. They are cruel, they are awful....but they're not the only parts of humanity we get to see. We also get to see the brighter side of the human race in the form of both the people who assist John Merrick and in Merrick himself. And all those acts of kindness are done in such an understated way that makes them feel more like life itself thus making their emotional potency all the more vibrant.

It's also remarkable how this movie doesn't pull a Blind Side, by which I mean they focus solely on the person who took in a down-on-his-luck-real-life-individual, minimizing the struggles and humanity of that real life person in favor of just making it all about the caretaker and how cool they are for doing basic human decency. We are supposed to like Frederick Treves as one of our lead characters, but he has his own foibles such as a personal crisis of conscience when it becomes apparent he may not be doing the right thing for John Merrick by allowing in visitors who just want to stare at John Merrick.

To boot, this isn't just his story, John Merrick is very much an equally prominent lead character in this equation. We see plenty of plot points from his point of view (such as a visit from a high-profile stage actress or a horrifying night where people break into his room and force alcohol down his throat) and perspective, and the beautifully in-depth way The Elephant Man paints a portrait of how John Merrick see's the world around him makes a scene towards the end of the movie where, amidst a swarm of onlookers, he finally proclaims that "I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!!! I AM A HUMAN BEING!!!" all the more emotionally resonant. Here, we see all the more than understandable resentment Merrick has carried his whole life for people who just treat him as an object to be gazed upon reach its peak and bubble out from his mind into the real world.

The Elephant Man treats its lead character like an actual human being, not as a prop to make Frederick Treves seem "cool" or whatever. Nope, it's all about looking at how John Merrick gets his deeply buried humanity back, something that's even reinforced in the visual sense of the motion picture. Notice how the first shot where John Merrick is clearly seen by the audience is when he's sitting in a bed like a normal person, not when he's being beaten by an abusive owner or when he's being stared at in Treves classroom. Director David Lynch wants the viewer to get a good look at John Merrick (and the impressive make-up effects used on the character) only when he's finally being treated like a human being and treating John Merrick like a person is a pervasively prevalent element of The Elephant Man that makes all the difference in the world.

Also making a splash here is the late great John Hurt as John Merrick, with Hurt proving to be adept at playing the gradually more and more capable verbal communication skills, as well as his steadily evolving body language, of Merrick with notable skill. Maybe the best part of his performance is the way he handles the quiet dialogue deliveries of John Merrick. You can hear in the way he speaks that there's an elegant humanity that's been (literally) beaten out of Merrick over the years, while his persistently polite demeanor only furthers the characters loveable nature. Basically, John Hurt is phenomenal in his lead role here, which seems only fitting since he's starring in The Elephant Man, an absolutely positively amazing motion picture that is among the best movies I've seen in a long long long long long long long time.