Review of Lord of the Flies (1963) by Matt M — 27 May 2013

A plane crashes into a deserted island with some 30 odd school boys left alone and look after themselves. This is a famous vision of war against all and a world without civility. Director Peter Brook chose to use real school kids and a documentary like photography to make the whole thing look more realistic and, while in doing so he added a unique feel to the whole experience, this choice paradoxically makes Lord of the Flies seem methodically built and artificial, as the viewer can clearly see the young improvised actors wait for their queues to recite (poorly) their lines.