1984

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Year:	1984
Country of origin:	UK
Director:	Michael Radford
Genre:	Dystopian paranoia
Starring:	John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087803/
Tagline:	George Orwell's Terrifying Vision Comes To The Screen
Favourite line:	"We shall meet in the place were there is no darkness?"

Based on George Orwell's paranoid classic, this is a dystopian vision of hell, set in a world where every thought, every action is governed and monitored by the all seeing Big Brother.

John Hurt plays the renowned role of Wilbur Smith, a citizen who defies conventions, and questions what he is told. But he's a convincing fraud. Reacting appropriately to the propaganda rallies by saluting and hollering when expected, working his day job without complaint, he dreams of a world where people are free to do and think what they like.

Stunningly acted, with the double whammy of both Hurt and Richard Burton in the power acting stakes, this is visually, emotionally and artistically sumptuous.
The environment is atmospheric and compelling - whilst the ever present propaganda narrative spouts the successes of the party in the war with Eurasia, everywhere the eye looks is dereliction, decay and despair.
The music is bombastic, a clarion cry to the masses to follow their great leader.
The acting is simply jaw-dropping, the script excellent, and the direction sublime.
I'd like to write more about the parallels between Orwell's concepts and the way Western civilisation seems to be headed, but I'd need a whole other website.
A wonderful, wonderful piece of cinema.