He Loved Big Brother

I thought that the film version of Orwell’s novel 1984 was true to the book and expressed all the emotions that Orwell incorporated in it.  Having watched the ending of the film, it seems to me that the film did do the book justice.  The fear and pain that is portrayed in the novel is quite horrific and hard to read through without experiencing some pain yourself.  While watching ending of the film, I was satisfied with the way Room 101 and Winston’s torture were portrayed.  I felt the pain that Winston felt and it was very unnerving to watch, just like it was unnerving to read through that part in the book.  The fear and apprehension that appeared on Winston’s face as he was being tortured by O’Brien and in Room 101 was very convincing and stayed true to the novel.  The rats especially were frightening. “The rats knew what was coming now.  One of them was leaping up and down; the other, an old grandfather of the sewers, stood up, with his pink hands against the bars, and fiercely snuffed the air.  Winston could see the whiskers and the yellow teeth.  Again the black panic took hold of him.  He was blind, helpless, mindless” (Orwell 286).  In the movie when the rats are about to be released on Winston’s face, I was able to feel the fear that Winston felt when the cage was on his face and the rats were scrambling around.

            The only part of the film that I didn’t think matched with the novel was the very last scene when Winston says, “I love you”.  I couldn’t tell if Winston was directing that towards the telescreen with Big Brother’s face.  Winston was turned away from the telescreen facing the chair that Julia sat in just moments before when he said, “I love you”.  This made me question who he was referring to, Big Brother or Julia.