Jacene
12-13-2005, 01:52 PM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/
Wow...thats all really I have to say about this one.
Its the end of the semester at school and we had nothing to do, so my british lit teacher popped this in and...just wow. I had heard of Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man, renamed John Merrick later on in his life) but never was interested. It is about a man born with what was initially thought of as Neuro Fibromatosis but was then narrowed down to Proteus Syndrome, named after the Greek god who could change shape at will. His disease was one that some people still suffer from, but not nearly has horrible as his case. He was covered in deformed skin, almost from head to toe. Doctors back then said this deformation covered 90% of his body. One of the few functional body parts he had was his left hand, which he used to craft elaborate models of churches and other things he saw from his bedroom window in the hospital.
Set back in the late 1800s, the story says that he recieved his name The Elephant Man by when he was still in his mothers womb, she was trampled by elephants...which is of course ridiculus, but rather his skin deformities on his right arm and legs were that color and texture of an elephant. At the beginning of his working life, he tried to be a door to door salesman...well that didn't go over well and found the only place he could make a living in being a live freak show. Later a friendly and interesting doctor named Frederick Treves found him and became his doctor and personal friend.
This movie tells of some of the things Joseph Merrick went through during the last years of his life. The film also shows good examples of the mistreatment he recieved by others.
Overall, I would say a 5/5 hands down.
Wow...thats all really I have to say about this one.
Its the end of the semester at school and we had nothing to do, so my british lit teacher popped this in and...just wow. I had heard of Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man, renamed John Merrick later on in his life) but never was interested. It is about a man born with what was initially thought of as Neuro Fibromatosis but was then narrowed down to Proteus Syndrome, named after the Greek god who could change shape at will. His disease was one that some people still suffer from, but not nearly has horrible as his case. He was covered in deformed skin, almost from head to toe. Doctors back then said this deformation covered 90% of his body. One of the few functional body parts he had was his left hand, which he used to craft elaborate models of churches and other things he saw from his bedroom window in the hospital.
Set back in the late 1800s, the story says that he recieved his name The Elephant Man by when he was still in his mothers womb, she was trampled by elephants...which is of course ridiculus, but rather his skin deformities on his right arm and legs were that color and texture of an elephant. At the beginning of his working life, he tried to be a door to door salesman...well that didn't go over well and found the only place he could make a living in being a live freak show. Later a friendly and interesting doctor named Frederick Treves found him and became his doctor and personal friend.
This movie tells of some of the things Joseph Merrick went through during the last years of his life. The film also shows good examples of the mistreatment he recieved by others.
Overall, I would say a 5/5 hands down.