The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Seeing as how it is 25 years old now, I figured I would ask this...my wife and I were looking for a movie to watch on Neflix last night, and she wanted to watch 1984...I had no problem with this, but I had never seen it and all I remembered was people saying it was a rather boring movie from when it played at the 'thon a couple years ago...we made halfway through before going to bed, but were both very confused by the whole thing...so what do you all think of this movie? Is it normal for us to be confused, or is the movie not that good?...I look forward to your thoughts....

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"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'the world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part"

The book is better.

Seriously, it has a few elements of Science Fiction because it was set in the future at the time it was written and there were a few technologies, such as what we might consider government mandated webcams that watch us.

It really is much more a political movie and the potential of what can happen if Obama get's his way. Kidding. But it is what some fear that some social policies can help get us onto the slippery slope of what Orwell envisions.

I do think it is a movie that is much more enjoyed if you have read the book.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

A lot of the context of the movie (and the book) is less familiar to us now ... the degeneration of society in a war-ridden, heavily industrialized age ... making the social commentary a bit difficult to grab hold.

Other aspects are as timely now as they were then ... issues of privacy, sanction of government to control its people via any sanction, the rights of the individual versus society. The triumph of the human will and the myriad ways it can be broken.

I think it's a masterpiece, but if you're not in the mood for a heavily political piece, it's definitely not going to go over well.

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David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)

1984 - I was one of the few in the USA who got to see this in the title year when it had a brief run in L.A. (and NYC) for Oscar consideration. I liked it then, and I admire it even more today, lo these many years later. It's about as dark and faithful an adaptation as one can expect. Certainly, not 'enjoyable', but Director Michael Radford (IL POSTINO) gave some humanity to such a cold heartless vision (John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton are superb). Bruce's print is an original release print complete with Eurythmics music. Radford fought to mute the effect of their music and hired composer Dominic Muldowney. If you want to see how distracting wall to wall Eurythmics music could have been, check out the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF51CqBy81U

(I liked Eurythmics, but using only their music would have blunted the film's impact

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas