Lord of the Flies

Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/b-v5AvIlc8E

Lord of the Flies is a classic book that I have never read, and its the source material for two movies, one from 1963, and the other in 1990, both of which I had also never seen. Having spotted the 1963 version on Kanopy, I loaded it up for a look.

If you're not sure what it's about, here's a brief rundown:

Amidst a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of schoolboys crash lands on a deserted island. With no adult survivors, the boys are forced to fend for themselves. At first they cooperate, but when they split into two separate camps their society falls into disarray.

Opening with a pretty effective photographic prologue that sets up things nicely...

True enough to the book. It has been decades since I've read the book, and also since I've seen the movie. For the few who are unaware, it's about the savage ways that a group of young boys take on when left on their own after a plane crash. One of the boys becomes a sort of "anti hero" just by not being a sadist. He begins by being a leader, but some of the other boys begin being sadistic savages. It's a bit of a reflection on the debate long ago between Voltaire and Rousseau, about the nature of man. The French Revolution and other incidents bore out Voltaire's cynicism and mocked Rousseau's optimism. Other movies have the same motif. Anzio, Ulzana's Raid, End of the Spear, while which reflect on the need to understand that we have t...