Michael Radford
1984

This film is based on the famous novel of the same name by George Orwell, a British writer and journalist of the 20th century. To talk about the film is thus to talk about the book: published in 1948, "1984" is a dark and dystopian vision of the world, where every human emotion, common sense, and privacy are demolished by the Party, the governing body of one of the three totalitarian states into which the planet is divided (Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia); the Party, at the top of which is the Big Brother, is an organization where 15% of the population of Oceania (the super-state where the entire story takes place) works; 2% of them are part of the Inner Party, 13% are part of the Outer Party, while the remaining 85% of the population consists of the proles, reduced to such misery that they count for nothing in the political and social setup of the State. It's a

The aim of the Party is to stay in power forever, and for this reason, it not only demands total obedience from its members but also wants to seize their conscience and control their thoughts. According to the principles of Ingsoc, the Party's political and social doctrine, a member must not only say they love Big Brother, but they must truly love him; the enthusiasm shown during the demonstrations in honor of the Party must not only be strong but also (and above all) sincere.

To achieve this goal, the Party uses spies, video surveillance, and total control of the media: the streets are plastered with posters depicting Big Brother and, underneath, the three official slogans of Ingsoc:

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

WAR IS PEACE

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

As you can easily notice, these are terms in opposition to each other: the acceptance of two opposing ideas is one of the fundamental techniques for controlling people's minds. Indeed, if the Party said that something black is white, the subject must first believe that it is truly white, but they must also be ready to believe the opposite, so that when the Party says that thing is black, they know it is black, that it has always been black. This technique is called doublethink.

It follows that even thinking in a heretical way is a crime (thoughtcrime), and those who commit it are destined to be captured by the Thought Police, to be then tortured, purified, and finally killed. The Party also has almost absolute control over the past, which is continuously rewritten according to the needs of the moment in the Ministry of Truth (!). All documents are falsified in such a way as to make the Party and Big Brother appear as heroes, saviors; they must be rewritten to delude people into thinking that the living standard is continuously rising, while in reality, they live in poverty. Another important factor is the use of Newspeak, a language with a poor vocabulary, designed to make people ignorant, preventing them from expressing their feelings and ideas in words.

In this climate of collective madness, in London, lives Winston Smith, the protagonist; he secretly hates the Party and Big Brother, understanding that he is the last man in Europe, as the only one who still has human feelings, that spirit survives in him that is the spirit of man. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth and is thus doubly aware of the Party's misdeeds and lies. He therefore begins a secret love affair with Julia (love, unless for the purpose of reproduction, is forbidden); he writes a diary where he notes down his thoughts; he seeks in O'Brien a possible friend-conspirator; he tries to enter Goldstein's rebellious Brotherhood; in short, many adventures for an ending to be discovered.

Returning to the film: as you might have understood, it is a film aimed primarily at those who have read the book and presents itself as a "completion" of it. Many scenes indeed refer to particular episodes of the novel. For those interested, I recommend reading the novel first and then watching the film (which otherwise might seem disjointed and unconvincing); for those who have already read the book, a film not to be missed.