1984 (1984)

	Directed by: Michael Radford	COUNTRY United Kingdom/ Netherlands/Germany GENRE Drama/Science Fiction NORWEGIAN TITLE 1984 RUNNING TIME 110 minutes
	Produced by: Simon Perry
	Written by (based on the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell): Michael Radford

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Winston Smith	John Hurt
O'Brien	Richard Burton	½
Julia	Suzanna Hamilton	½
Mr. Charrington	Cyril Cusack	-
Parsons	Gregor Fisher	-
Syme	James Walker	-
Tillotson	Andrew Wilde	-
Mrs. Parsons	Merelina Kendall	-
Emmanuel Goldstein	John Boswall	-

Review

In addition to the cold detachment, which is obviously devised, although still disengaging, 1984 feels very confining and small in scope. There’s little of the grandeur that the novel has been renowned for. The film is much more a simple, tragic love story than a dystopian tale. John Hurt’s lead performance is an invested one, especially in the latter part of the film. Richard Burton looks the part and has the right energy opposite him, but you cannot help but feel he’s just the big, cozy, old Mr. Burton, and not the heartless torturer O’Brien. The class oppression is not communicated well enough, and the film remains too literary, too formalistic.