I watched this film several times as a teenager. It meant a lot to me and altered many of the concrete ideas I was trying to understand. Its a shame this film is not more widely available and better known. Its filled with brilliant performances and a shattering script by Peter Schaffer.
It is hard not to be shaken and stirred by the ideas of this film/play. It is a powerful indictment of the complexity of the human mind and the limits of science in attempting to translate, understand and reform the wild and fantastic reaches of human consciousness. It is a film with so many subtexts and ideas about the human mind - it encompasses questions of religion, psychiatry, dreams, forbidden sexuality, fantasy, taboos, psychology, youth and history. Well, these are the most crucial in the films narrative.
Equus tells the story of a adolescent's counselling after he commits a violent, extreme crime. Alan Strang (Peter Firth) has been interned under the guidance of Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) to work through the issues surrounding his actions. Alan is clearly disturbed and withdrawn but the devastating secrets he bears threaten not merely his own family but Dysart's own sense of self and truth. And audiences too.
Its a film noted for its male nudity - which is quite notable - but its the swirling, subversive ideas which spring forth from this film which make it even more challenging and provocative. An important, intelligent film.
It is hard not to be shaken and stirred by the ideas of this film/play. It is a powerful indictment of the complexity of the human mind and the limits of science in attempting to translate, understand and reform the wild and fantastic reaches of human consciousness. It is a film with so many subtexts and ideas about the human mind - it encompasses questions of religion, psychiatry, dreams, forbidden sexuality, fantasy, taboos, psychology, youth and history. Well, these are the most crucial in the films narrative.
Equus tells the story of a adolescent's counselling after he commits a violent, extreme crime. Alan Strang (Peter Firth) has been interned under the guidance of Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) to work through the issues surrounding his actions. Alan is clearly disturbed and withdrawn but the devastating secrets he bears threaten not merely his own family but Dysart's own sense of self and truth. And audiences too.
Its a film noted for its male nudity - which is quite notable - but its the swirling, subversive ideas which spring forth from this film which make it even more challenging and provocative. An important, intelligent film.