• An overlooked film for sure—underappreciated—it’s very notable for Roger Deakins photography (this was his big break so to speak) and the slow-burn narrative/performance by John Hurt
  • Deakins bleach bypass technique completely washes out the color and it’s quite stunning in its effectiveness—rumor (IMDB trivia) is he and Radford wanted black and white but were turned down by the studio.
  • Also notable for Richard Burton’s last film—sadly he passed away really young (age 58). It’s not the triumph for him it is for Hurt but he’s quite good here in his few scenes
  • Uniform uniforms and lots of extras give it the proper scope despite most of the scenes involving two characters (either hurt and burton or hurt and Suzanna Hamilton (also in out of Africa) and being a slow burn
  • Effective use of TV’s (size), radio announcements on war, production rates increasing, via soundtrack and rows and of people at the rally and rows of desk at work in the few scenes at Hurt’s work
  • Dystopian slow-burn with some scary pictures of youth that reminded me of Haneke’s white ribbon—nazi implications
  • This dystopia is very different than blade runner– it’s drab—almost looks like Rosellini’s war trilogy with all the rubble
  • Gorgeous landscapes in the woods- the green valley escape and surrealism sequences
  • Hurt and burton are two powerful actors
  • Shot and photographed in step with novel at same time in 1984 and on same dates which is strange
  • Recommend