Review of Lord of the Flies (1963) by Joseph B — 27 Apr 2016

Peter Brook's 1963 film "Lord of the Flies" is an adaptation of the 1954 novel by William Golding. The film is composed of absolutely nothing but children plucked up from school during summer break, none had acted and even fewer had any knowledge of or read the book. Brook shot over 60 hours of film, cutting it down to 4 hours then to 100 minutes before cutting it once again to a scant 90 minutes. The film highlights the human condition, stating that all the basic human elements of fear, hate and violence exists even in children isolated on an island.

A plane crash leaves roughly 30 children stranded on an island who start to develop a hierarchy. They chose a leader, possibly due to a conch shell he found. They develop rules just like they would have in civilization they are used to. Some kids become hunters, being excited about killing the animals and the blood. A kid by the name Piggy (Hugh Edwards) is picked on by most of the children because he is fat and wears glasses. Soon, the order of things starts to falter as factions develop and there becomes two rival tribes on the island of children.

The kids range in age, possibly maybe 6 or 7 to 11 or 12, the younger kids fear beasts in the jungle and in the ocean. They fear ghosts and all the things kids fear. Without adults, they must feel helpless, and at other times, they must feel liberated. Liberated from the shackles of having no say in how you live your life. The island provides them with their own sense of purpose and their own sense of independence, but at times it's also an unwelcome gift.

Brooks directs the film masterfully, getting as good a performance out of these kids as one could expect. Reading the novel before years ago, watching the film brings me back to the moments I had forgotten but soon remembered from the novel. It's a good film and it's not too long. Brooks made something fantastic out of a little bit of money. It's worth a view if you're a fan of the novel, but it's also worth viewing if you want a film dealing with human nature.