Alternate Best Actor 1984: John Hurt in 1984

John Hurt did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Winston Smith in 1984.

1984 is not quite definitive, but certainly an effective adaptation of George Orwell's tale of a dystopian future, where thought itself is strictly regulated.

Returning again to the great John Hurt, in his banner year of 1984, where he made for a surprising, yet convincing, sporting lead in Champions, a notable against type turn as a cunning hit-man in The Hit, and here in the role Winston Smith, a character very much created with the intention to be our average man in this world. We follow Winston Smith as he enters into the world seemingly content to be part of it, as we open the film by watching him watch the government propaganda broadcast. This being part of a mass hysteria, albeit less intense one, supporting the violent causes of the their government against the apparent traitors. Hurt only showing a minor hesitation, a minor hesitation of any free will, and with that we have our man that is Winston Smith. The early scenes of the film are as we come to experience the existence through John Hurt's performance. This where he delivers in a way perhaps one of his most straight forward performances, this to the point that he even seems to ease back on his throat just a bit, that which typically carried a harsher tone even as relatively younger man. John Hurt emphasizing though effectively the average nature of Winston, he is not a man who is of some great note, and Hurt plays into this, however he does not use this as an excuse for a boring performance. Hurt rather excels in finding what is special within the observation of the average man in this society.

John Hurt manages to find what I would describe as a careful humanity in Winston. This as he looks upon his world so often just a man, but with a minor curiosity. A curiosity that alludes to where he eventually ends up, but also truly subdued in a man who initially only is simply part of the populace. This with much of a passive manner that Hurt brings with, though within that his eyes do conduct the minor element of discontent merely in that he isn't entirely a drone. This as we see him initially notice of Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), that is with this minor interest. This is alone though is major with the society of detachment, and in a way this alone spells doom for Winston. His initial tryst with her is portrayed curiously though quite effectively by Hurt, as this sort of breaking of a state. This as it begins almost as a game of sorts with the two following each other into a field for sex. Hurt's portrayal of Winston's wish for sex, presented through words of corruption against the words of purity as pushed by the state, are nearly stilted, though brilliantly shows of a man exhibiting this emotion, within such a deep seeded repression. This revealing the man's real lust within his delivery, though still controlled fitting to a man who is engaging in something entirely new within this type of rebellion. Their second rendezvous is quite a bit different, and less animalistic. This reflected in Hurt's reaction to seeing her in a dress, this with a simpler, more humane appreciation of her beyond simply a lust.

It is interesting as the two's chemistry actually becomes one less of an extreme passion and slowly more of sensitivity towards one another. Hurt's performance revealing just this modicum of more humanity within these interactions revealing more of a normal man in Winston, and in turn less content within the society. This though is not portrayed as a heroic journey, but rather one of a simple discovery of humanity. This even as he seems to discover outlawed texts, Hurt presents this as a greater appreciation seemingly for life in general. This with a greater attachment to the words that note the controlling society he lives in, but also just in his connection with Julia. Again a simple connection but a very tender one as found in the performances. They which create the sense of discovery within each other just the affection for one another. This as they begin to show as though they have a sense of happiness, as Hurt speaks with hope for the future as people, this of course being right before they are immediately arrested by the thought police. This leading to Winston to being "interrogated" separately by O'Brien (Richard Burton), a man he formerly believed to be a rebel. This involving much physical and mental torture. Hurt, as he previously showed quite memorably in Alien, is a master of depicting extreme physical pain. This in Hurt making these scenes extremely visceral alone on the sense of the torture of the man, being so brutal in Hurt's work that makes every moment of it feel almost unbearably real at times.

Hurt's performance is brilliant, though honestly quite hard to watch, throughout the torture sequence of the film. This as the collapse of the man's resolve is brought within his wilting delivery, and his eyes that are of a man slowly shattering before our eyes. The intensity of his work capturing the extreme nature of the situation but also showing essentially the act of exploiting the man's state. Hurt's work shows this not be a heroic man, but rather that of extreme suffering once again. The suffering granted an excruciating detail, given that Hurt somehow manages to show that there is a descent even from that extreme he begins at. This in his moment of confession Hurt's work is indeed heartbreaking by portraying this vulnerability of a man only able to bare himself at this point. The emotions of his love he did have true, but now wrapped in each moment with such agony. This as then the act becomes not Winston turning into the man he was at the beginning of the film, but almost a creature crafted by the state. This to be first wiped away to almost nothing, something crafted so terribly, in an incredible way, by Hurt's work as the decaying corpse he becomes, as few are able to do broken as well as Hurt. Hurt shows a man wholly broken in mind and spirit at the end of it, so gripped in pain that his delivery of the pain becomes internalized, as though he is so weakened he can barely speak.

This as Hurt shows the man turning into a hollow husk, his eyes representing a man gone to nearly unfeeling due to that suffering he has endured. This leaving seemingly at the end, yet there is one more test still, as O'Brien brings him to the dreaded Room 101, where he threatens to feed him to rabid rats. Hurt makes the scenario truly horrifying, as not only is the fear so gripping within his expression, and his voice just now this whisper of a man begging for his life. That being the end of the torture, where we find the "rehabilitated Winston" meeting the "rehabilitated" Julia. Hurt being wholly haunting, as now he is detached again, but now with this greater passive quality, and eerie contentment. A man seemingly without himself, as he callously ignores Julia, and speaks the party lines with conviction yet as robotic. Hurt showing a man alive but seemingly now without a soul. The film ends though, with a slight departure from the book, though even this is by leaving just a bit of ambiguity. This in itself is found in Hurt's performance, creating the most powerful moment in the end of the film, as we see Winston say "I love you" one more time. In the book this refers directly to the state represented by big brother. Hurt's performance though offers an alternate interpretation, though no less tragic, as his eyes bare emotion again, pathos and sorrow. This alluding to that he may still love Julia after all, as this is the only show of emotion. Of course, tragic still as in Hurt's expression it is that of a hopeless love that will never be experienced again.