Director Peter Brook said that all he needed to make Lord of the Flies was “kids, a camera, and a beach.” Rather than use a screenplay, he worked solely from the classic book by William Golding and improvised along the way with non-professional young actors. Brook was known as an experimental theater director and his approach was so raw that it almost feels like a documentary.
Many people haven’t seen Lord of the Flies since they were children, despite it receiving an X rating in Great Britain. If you fall into this category, you need to see it again because it’s a completely different experience as an adult. I’ve now seen it many times, and I still get frightened just watching this ninety-second trailer.
Watch it one dark night at the beach this summer and ponder the innate savagery of mankind.
