This really is an incredible story.
The Elephant Man is an extremely humanizing film (and a mostly true one to boot) about Joseph Merrick, a British man of the 19th century with possibly the most disfiguring deformity the world had ever seen.
An unsuspecting viewer would never suspect that the film was directed by David Lynch (director of Eraserhead and other strange flicks), as it lacks his trademark quirkiness.
The movie portrays society's cruelty towards Merrick through how he is treated by the people he encounters, such as freak show attendees, children, and members of the high society. As is to be expected, society is for the most part colored as cruel. Yet, the film does not focus on this, but rather the minority of genuinely kind people. In doing so, it conveys very strongly the idea that humanity may often be found in unexpected places, and it is for this reason that The Elephant Man is such a powerful movie.
I don't mean to get preachy, but this one has forced me to entirely reevaluate the way I consider people.
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