Lord of the Flies (1963)

Lord of the Flies (1963), directed by Peter Brook.

I suppose everyone knows this story: shipwrecked schoolboys revert to savagery. I'd forgotten that a few holdouts argue for civilization and are eliminated one by one, until the frantic pursuit of the last one and the exciting, disorienting final moment.

It's an art film treatment with some striking photography under the tropical sun. Paradise already seems tainted because we know what's coming and it won't be pretty. When I hear "art film" I think "weird-god-help-us", but this is not so arty as that, and presents the story pretty well.

We don't believe in ghosts or the "Beast" some of the boys are reporting, but hunting and finding it are pretty tense segments. And, as one of the boys suggests: maybe the Beast is "us".

Filmed in Puerto Rico.

Criterion DVD. Subtitle track but no menu control for it.