LORD OF THE FLIES

UK. 1990, 90 minutes, Colour.
Balthasar Getty, Daniel Pipoly.
Directed by Harry Hook.

Lord of the Flies was filmed by Peter Brook in the early '60s, a black and white version, a respectful, even experimental treatment of a literary classic.

This film is an updating to the '90s, a transferring of the plot to the United States and surrounding islands of the Caribbean. It was made in colour, directed by Harry Hook (The Kitchen Toto). The references are to the experiences of American boys of the '80s and '90s, as is the language. The plot also makes the transition from choristers to students in a military academy.

However, the themes of William Golding's novel remain the same: a disastrous world in which the children crash onto a deserted island, the drive towards civilisation and orderliness, innate drives in human nature for disorder, vindictiveness, violence, superstition.

Those who like the initial version may feel that this interpretation is not as purist as it might be. Those unfamiliar with the original might find that it is a straightforward narrative exploring the themes of a significant novel.

1.The status of the book? Readership, study? The initial film? Its status? The impact of the remake? For the '90s?

2.The work of William Golding, his perceptions about human nature, society? Ethics and morals? The comment on the human condition - as exemplified by pre-adolescent boys?

3.The 1990s, the perspective of the director? The Bahamas locations for the island and the sea? The use of colour?

4.The transition from the boys as choristers to a military academy? The elimination of religion - and the substitution of American ideology and the military? The American tone? The boys as products of the '80s, their sophistication, their language, precocious?

5.The use of Golding's plot, the adaptation and its impact?

6.The experience of the crash, the boys having to cope, the underwater sequences and the eerie unreal world and their emerging onto the island? Their age, the raft, the pilot and his injuries, their having to cope?

7.The atmosphere of the island, its resources, the water? Their setting up society, coping, hierarchy, rules, the conch, order, formality and informality? The success of this new society? Their motivation and drives? The transitions, the collapse? Symbol of civilisation?

8.Ralph, his personality and character, status in the school, with the boys, his manner of leadership? The conch? A boy of integrity? His friendship with Piggy and support of him, the inevitable clashes with Jack?

9.Jack, personality, his age, his exercise of leadership? The rogue, the hunter? The confrontations with Ralph? Envy? The taunting of Piggy? The hunt of the pig, the establishing of the warriors, the blood and the bloodlust? Their decorating themselves? Implications of savagery? The experience of killing and going out of control?

10.The importance of the fire, the signal, the guardianship of the fire? Piggy and his glasses, Ralph using them, Jack using them?

11.The pilot and his delirium, wandering away, his disappearance, the clothes in the water?

12.The pilot, the mosquito net, interpreted as a monster, as a god to be appeased? The pilot deranged? The boys and the killing of the pig - and the offering to the Lord of the Flies?

13.The clash between Jack and Ralph? Clash of personalities? Beliefs? Piggy as intermediary? The importance of the feast and the invitation?

14.Simon, his simplicity, guarding the pilot? Coming with the news of his death? Seen as a ghost? His murder - deliberate, bloodlust, the followers of Jack and their killing Simon?

15.Piggy, his trying to make peace, his glasses taken, smashed - and Piggy's death?

16.Ralph exiled from the group, having to fend for himself, the melodrama of the chase, smoking him out, the victim of savagery?

17.The characters of the other boys, as individuals, the twins, their being part of the group, going over to Jack, not betraying Ralph? The peer pressure?

18.The final confrontation - the officer, his question? The civilised world from which he came - and the symbol of the order and savagery on the island? What world were the boys returning to? From the experience of Eden and Fall?

19.The ethical and moral questions of the film? What makes a human being? Ethics and integrity? Savagery? Good and evil, morality and sin? Leaders and victims? Symbol of society?