Now Showing: Nineteen Eighty-Four - Part Two

 

Nineteen Eighty-Four - Part Two

Genre: Sci-Fi

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Meirad Tako

Based on the novel by George Orwell

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Saoirse Ronan, Javier Bardem, David Morse, Diedrich Bader, Bill Nighy

Plot: One morning at work, Winston (Cillian Murphy) is heading to the men’s room when he notices a dark-haired girl, Julia (Saoirse Ronan), with her arm in a sling. As she suddenly falls, Winston rushes to help her up, and she discreetly slips him a note. To his astonishment, the note reads, “I love you.” Winston is bewildered by this unexpected message, struggling to understand its meaning. He has long suspected that the girl might be a political spy, tasked with monitoring him for suspicious behavior, and now she professes love for him. Before Winston can make sense of this revelation, he is interrupted by Parsons (Diedrich Bader), who starts talking enthusiastically about preparations for Hate Week. Despite the confusion, the note stirs in Winston a sudden, intense desire to truly live.

For several days, Winston feels a tense nervousness, unable to speak to the girl. Then, he manages to sit at the same lunch table as her. They keep their eyes down, talking in hushed tones to avoid attracting attention. They quickly arrange a secret meeting in Victory Square, where they hope the bustle of the crowds will shield them from the ever-watchful telescreens. When they meet in the square, they witness a venomous crowd tormenting a group of Eurasian prisoners being paraded through. Amid the chaos, the girl discreetly gives Winston directions for a rendezvous: he is to take a train from Paddington Station into the countryside, where they can have their secret tryst. Before they part, they manage to briefly hold hands, a small but thrilling act of defiance.

Following their plan, Winston and the girl meet in the secluded countryside. Although uncertain about what to expect, Winston has come to trust that the dark-haired girl is not a spy. Despite worrying that there might be hidden microphones among the bushes, he feels reassured by the girl's confident demeanor. She introduces herself as Julia and defiantly removes her Junior Anti-Sex League sash, signaling her rejection of Party ideals. As they move deeper into the woods, Winston becomes aroused, and the two make love. The experience is strikingly similar to a passionate encounter Winston had often fantasized about.

Afterward, Winston asks Julia if she has done this before, and she admits that she has—many times, in fact. Far from being disturbed, Winston is exhilarated by her response. He tells her that the more men she has been with, the more he loves her, because it means more Party members are secretly defying the rules, fueling his hope for rebellion against the oppressive regime.

The next morning, Julia takes charge of organizing their return to London, and she and Winston resume their everyday lives. In the weeks that follow, they arrange a series of brief, secret meetings throughout the city. During one rendezvous in the ruins of an old church, Julia shares stories from her life, including the experience of living in a hostel crammed with thirty other girls and her first illicit sexual encounter. Unlike Winston, who yearns for a broader rebellion, Julia is more focused on personal defiance. She enjoys outsmarting the Party and indulging in small acts of pleasure, finding satisfaction in these minor victories.

Julia explains to Winston that the Party’s strict prohibition on sex is a tactic to redirect people's pent-up sexual energy into passionate hatred for the Party’s enemies and fervent adoration of Big Brother. She believes the regulation of intimate relationships is a way for the Party to maintain control over its citizens’ emotions.

In response, Winston shares a dark memory about a walk he once took with his estranged wife, Katherine. During the walk, he considered pushing her off a cliff but ultimately did not. He reflects on the incident with a sense of resignation, telling Julia that whether he had pushed her or not, it would have made no difference, as the forces of oppression in their lives are too powerful to overcome.

Winston surveys the small room above Mr. Charrington’s (Bill Nighy) shop, a space he has rented—foolishly, he thinks—for his secret affair with Julia. Outside the window, a sturdy woman with red arms sings while hanging her laundry, a simple scene of daily life. The couple has been preoccupied with the city’s frantic preparations for Hate Week, leaving Winston frustrated by their limited opportunities to meet. The situation has been further complicated by Julia’s recent period, which kept them apart. Winston longs for a different kind of life with Julia, one that is more relaxed and romantic, where they could live together like an old, married couple.

Julia soon arrives, bringing sugar, coffee, and bread—rare luxuries typically reserved for Inner Party members. As she applies makeup, her enhanced beauty and femininity captivate Winston, filling him with a sense of wonder. That evening, as they lounge in bed, a sudden sight of a rat horrifies Winston, revealing his deep-seated fear. Julia calmly searches the room and spots a glass paperweight. Winston explains that the paperweight is a connection to the past, a fragment from a time before the Party's dominance.

Together, they sing a rhyme about St. Clement’s Church, and Julia casually remarks that one day she will clean the old picture of the church hanging on the wall. After Julia departs, Winston remains in the room, staring into the crystal depths of the paperweight, imagining a life where he and Julia could exist together in perfect stillness, suspended in time.

As Winston had anticipated, Syme disappears without a trace. The city buzzes with activity as preparations for Hate Week intensify, and the oppressive heat of summer seems to heighten the energy, even making the proles more restless than usual. Parsons busily decorates the streets with streamers, while his children enthusiastically sing a new anthem called the “Hate Song,” composed especially for the occasion.

Winston finds himself increasingly preoccupied with thoughts of the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, longing for the sanctuary it provides, even when he can’t visit. He fantasizes about a future where Katherine, his estranged wife, dies, allowing him to marry Julia. At times, he even dreams of abandoning his current life and adopting the identity of a prole, imagining a different kind of freedom.

During their conversations, Winston and Julia discuss the Brotherhood, the rumored anti-Party resistance. Winston shares the strange sense of connection he feels with O’Brien, while Julia expresses her belief that the war and Party enemies, such as Emmanuel Goldstein (David Morse), are fabrications created by the Party to manipulate the populace. Her casual indifference toward these ideas frustrates Winston, who criticizes her for being a "rebel only from the waist down," implying that her defiance is limited to physical pleasure rather than a deeper ideological resistance.

O’Brien (Javier Bardem) finally makes contact with Winston, a moment Winston has long anticipated. In a brief hallway encounter at the Ministry of Truth, Winston feels a mix of anxiety and excitement. O’Brien subtly refers to Syme and extends an invitation for Winston to visit his home one evening to view a Newspeak dictionary. The exchange seems charged with hidden meaning, and Winston interprets it as an acknowledgment of his dissent.

Winston senses that this meeting is part of a larger journey that began with his first act of rebellion against the Party. He grimly believes that the path he’s on will ultimately lead to the Ministry of Love, the dreaded place where he expects to meet his death. Despite the dark certainty of his fate, Winston is thrilled to have O’Brien’s address, seeing it as a step toward a deeper involvement in the resistance he has dreamed of.

One morning, Winston wakes up in tears in the small room above Mr. Charrington’s antiques shop. Julia is by his side and asks what’s wrong. He reveals that he had been dreaming about his mother and that, deep down, he has always carried a sense of guilt, as if he were responsible for her death. This dream triggers a flood of long-suppressed memories. Winston recalls the difficult years of his childhood after his father disappeared, when he, his mother, and his baby sister spent much of their time in underground shelters hiding from air raids. Hunger was a constant presence, and one day, in a desperate moment, he stole a piece of chocolate from his family and ran away. He never saw them again.

These memories fuel Winston’s hatred for the Party, which he believes has eradicated genuine human emotions. He feels that while the proles still possess a sense of humanity, Party members like him and Julia are conditioned to suppress their feelings so thoroughly that they become almost inhuman.

The couple is painfully aware of the risks they face. They know that if they are captured, torture and possibly death await them, and renting the room above the shop has only increased the chances of being caught. Despite their fears, they reassure each other that while torture will inevitably force them to confess, it cannot destroy their love. They agree that the sensible choice would be to abandon the room for good, but they find themselves unable to let go of their secret sanctuary.

Winston and Julia take a significant risk by visiting O’Brien’s luxurious apartment together. Once inside, they are astonished when O’Brien turns off the telescreen, an action that defies Party protocol. Feeling momentarily liberated from the Party's constant surveillance, Winston takes the opportunity to openly confess that he and Julia are enemies of the Party, expressing their desire to join the Brotherhood. O’Brien confirms the existence of the Brotherhood and reveals that Emmanuel Goldstein, its elusive leader, is indeed real and alive. He then leads them through a ritualistic song, symbolically initiating them into the rebellion.

O’Brien pours them wine—a rare luxury—and Winston suggests that they drink a toast to the past. Afterward, Julia departs, and O’Brien promises Winston that he will provide a copy of Goldstein’s book, the revolutionary manifesto. Before they part, O’Brien enigmatically tells Winston that they may meet again someday. Winston asks if he means "the place where there is no darkness," a phrase from Winston's recurring dreams, and O’Brien affirms it by repeating the phrase back to him.

O’Brien shares the missing lines of the St. Clement’s Church rhyme that Winston and Julia had been reciting, completing the verse. As Winston leaves the apartment, O’Brien turns the telescreen back on and resumes his work, as though the extraordinary meeting had never taken place.

After a grueling ninety-hour workweek, Winston feels utterly exhausted. Amid the chaos of Hate Week, Oceania has abruptly changed its enemies and allies in the ongoing war, leaving Winston with an overwhelming amount of work to manage this shift. During one rally, the speaker is forced to abruptly revise his speech, declaring that Oceania is not, and has never been, at war with Eurasia, but rather with Eastasia. The crowd becomes embarrassed by their anti-Eurasia signs and scapegoats Emmanuel Goldstein's agents for the confusion. Despite this, they unleash their full hatred toward Eastasia.

Back in the room at Mr. Charrington’s, Winston begins to read Goldstein’s *The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism*, which O’Brien had given him. The book is lengthy and filled with chapters named after Party slogans like “WAR IS PEACE” and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” It outlines a theory of social classes throughout history, dividing society into three categories: the High Class (the Inner Party), the Middle Class (the Outer Party), and the Low Class (the Proles). Goldstein details how Eurasia formed when Russia absorbed all of Europe, how Oceania emerged from the United States’ annexation of the British Empire, and how Eastasia consists of the remaining nations. According to Goldstein, these three superpowers maintain a constant state of war to keep their populations distracted and powerless. The war remains stagnant, as no two allied nations can decisively defeat the third, serving only to obscure the truth of life in other regions—capturing the essence of the slogan “WAR IS PEACE.”

As Winston reads, Julia enters the room and throws herself into his arms, cheerfully pleased that he has the book. After a half-hour of intimacy, during which they listen to the red-armed woman singing outside, Winston begins to read aloud to Julia. He shares Goldstein’s assertion that controlling history is a fundamental strategy employed by the Party. He explains that doublethink enables Inner Party members to fervently support the war narrative, even while aware of the lies behind the histories they fabricate. Eventually, Winston checks to see if Julia is awake—she is not—and he drifts off to sleep. His last thought lingers on the idea that “sanity is not statistical.”

The next morning, as Winston lies in bed, the red-armed woman outside begins to sing, stirring Julia from her sleep. Winston gazes out the window at the woman, admiring her vitality and fertility. He envisions a future where the proles, embodying raw human spirit, will rise up to free themselves from the oppressive grip of the Party. Both Winston and Julia glance at the woman, feeling a profound sense of doom, yet they cling to the hope that she may hold the key to a brighter future. In a moment of despair, they both utter, “We are the dead.”

Suddenly, a third voice emerges from the shadows, chillingly responding, “You are the dead.” The reality of their situation hits them as they realize a telescreen is hidden behind the picture of St. Clement’s Church. Panic surges through them as the sound of stomping boots echoes outside; their sanctuary is surrounded. A familiar voice recites the final lines of the St. Clement’s rhyme: “Here comes a candle to light you to bed / Here comes a chopper to chop off your head!”

In an instant, the window shatters, and black-clad troops burst into the room. They ruthlessly smash the crystal paperweight, and Winston, reflecting on its smallness, feels a deep sense of loss. The soldiers kick Winston and brutally beat Julia, disorienting him. He struggles to make sense of the old-fashioned clock on the wall, unable to grasp the time in the chaos. As the troops restrain him, Mr. Charrington enters the room, commanding someone to gather the shards of the destroyed paperweight. The revelation strikes Winston: Mr. Charrington's voice had come from the telescreen, and he is, in fact, a member of the Thought Police.