A staple in middle/high school curriculum, William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies works overtime to put to rest both the myth of childhood innocence and the idea of the Noble Savage. When left to their own devices, the kids in Lord of the Flies go from order to anarchy in a shockingly brief amount of time, smearing paint on their faces and terrorizing those who disagree with them. What usually would be deemed "boys will be boys" youthful exuberance transforms into murder so smoothly that you can't help but feel a bit sick to your stomach. Basically, South Park is more accurate than Our Gang.
The film follows a group of boys who are stranded on an island after their plane is shot down. This sequence is depicted in a series of grainy photographs that has the feel of the final scene of Night of the Living Dead. The main boy we meet is Ralph, a responsible "good" boy who wants to escape the island at any cost. His friend is a fat, nerdy boy with glasses who gets called Piggy, which reiterates that bullying is an integral part of growing up. The antagonist is a choir leader named Jack, who forms a group of hunters and is pissed off that Ralph was voted as their leader and not him. Jack initially gets along with Ralph, but as tensions rise and Jack becomes more wrapped up in his own group, he eventually splits off and forms his own tribe. Murder, war-like chanting, and bodypaint follow.
Director Peter Brook gives this film a grainy documentary feel, and it's effective as hell here. As the film progresses you feel the growing uneasy, especially as Jack becomes increasingly arrogant and prone to violence. The actors here are superb, and they while they don't shy away from the viciousness of the characters, at no point do they seem to be hamming it up for the camera. There's an organic feel to the performances here, and you really feel for these kids, Piggy in particular. There's a scene of Piggy describing the origin of his hometown's name, and this perfectly shows why he's such an unpopular boy. In addition to being the stereotypical fat, asthmatic kid with glasses, he also thinks that the etymology of his hometown's name is the least bit interesting to his peers. Admittedly, as a linguist I personally found it interesting, but those boys were probably just waiting for that story to end.
While this film doesn't focus much on the animal life already on the island to the extent that a film like Walkabout does, there is a nice scene of a kid playing with a lizard, and the shot of the pig's head mounted on a stick is suitably disturbing. I would have liked more nature shots, as the island itself doesn't feel much like a character here. I understand the reasoning for not doing this since the story is about the boys, but I think that focusing on nature as an element in driving some of these kids to madness would have added an interesting dimension to the narrative. It's a minor quibble, really not much of a complaint at all, just something that I would have liked to see when you have an island at your disposal.
Overall this movie plays like a horror film, and is obviously superior to the 1990 version. While I enjoy this film, I don't think it holds up to repeated viewings. It's a great film, and probably the best adaptation that you'll ever get for this material, but there's only so many times I can watch kids being shitty to each other. Not to mention that I've been familiar with this material ever since I first read the book in high school, and after absorbing the theme of the book I don't know how many more times I need to have it reiterated. I think it's an excellent film, but I rank it just under Nanook of the North. This seems like a low ranking, but as I said, I don't think I'm going to watch this one again, despite how great it is. #35 it is.
The List
Next time: I don't think I fully appreciated the bitchiness of The Red Shoes the first time I saw it, so I'm eager to give it another go.
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