I've been cranking out some reviews this weekend. I get to go out in the real world later today, because I'm going to see New Order in concert here in Atlanta. Before I do, here's another review...
A few years ago, at my environmental protection job, I shared an office with one of the law enforcement officers in my unit and found myself listening to this co-worker's police scanner on a near daily basis. If you spend enough time overhearing transmissions on a police scanner, you might, as I did, eventually begin to thank the stars above for the presence of police officers and for the legal system in our society. While I have always been an upbeat and optimistic person when it comes to evaluating human nature, and while I believe that people are basically decent, I have no doubt that, without the rules and established order that governs civilization, the center would not hold. Listening to that police scanner reminded me that our seemingly tranquil world could very well be a thin facade over the multiple small outbreaks of disorder that must be quelled by designated authorities at all times.
The concept that society is three square meals away from total anarchy is one that is visited repeatedly in movies, television shows, and literature. We never seem to tire of these stories, because, at their core, they are about the battle between premeditated ethics and instinctive savagery inside each of us. The recent adaptations of Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Stephen King's The Mist are so icily effective because they remind us that society can be reduced to disorder rather abruptly, that mob mentality can often override ability of separate individuals to behave with reasoned logic, and, most frighteningly, people in times of crisis will often, for better or worse, fall in line to follow any leader who promises food, shelter, and solutions, as demonstrated by Adolf Hitler's rise to power in a Germany suffering from hardship after the Treaty of Versailles. William Golding's 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, remains one of the most focused and frightening treatises on the conflicts between civilized order and barbaric unrest, because the novel utilizes the scenario of children in an isolated location to explore the notion that these conflicts are inherent in human nature.
Peter Brook's 1963 film adaptation of Lord of the Flies is a faithful treatment of Golding's novel that utilizes a terse documentary-style presentation to bring the story to the screen without excessive melodrama or heavy-handed movie conventions. Key interactions and themes from the novel are conveyed in a matter-of-fact style by way of wordless close-up facial expressions, body language, and action. Despite the low-budget approach, this adaptation manages to encompass all of the necessary undercurrents and subtleties of the source material as we see the initial enthusiastic cooperation of the children gradually give way to discontent, disenchantment, and, ultimately, murderous chaos. Rumors of a beast on the island and the promise of hunters to provide protection and food ultimately override democratic intentions to concentrate on the aspects of survival that really matter, such as the maintenance of a signal fire, and the resultant disorder is effectively depicted by way of no-nonsense black-in-white cinematography that strips away distractions from the basic storytelling. No movie adaptation is a substitute for the Golding novel, but this film nails the story better than any subsequent effort can ever hope to match.
This adaptation of Lord of the Flies is one of the most credible interpretations of a literary source out there, but various aspects of the storyline, such as child endangerment and child murder, resulted in a final product that was often treated as mere exploitation. I remember strolling through a video rental business in the late 1980s and encountering an old videotape of this movie where the blurbs on the cover likened it to grisly X-rated fare. Lord of the Flies is a disturbing movie, make no mistake about it, but fans of this movie will surely be grateful that
Criterion has, at long last, presented the movie in a respectful way.
This
Criterion Blu-ray of Lord of the Flies accentuates the benefits of the practical cinematic choices with a crystal-clear transfer that is a noticeable improvement over the old Criterion/Essential Art House DVD edition of the film. I have not listened to the commentary track yet, but the extra documentaries that shed light on the difficult behind-the-scenes challenges of filming on the island are informative and certainly appreciated. The cover art of this particular
Criterion title is quite spectacular.
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