Released: August 13, 1963 (USA)
Director: Peter Brook
*****
This story about a group of British lads marooned on an island with no adults reminds me of LOST, especially in that drama's first year. People learning to live together, create some sort of community with some semblance of rules...everything hinging on the hope of rescue. What separates these two pieces of entertainment is the lack of any structure in Lord of the Flies. These children, fleeing from a war, don't have the knowledge or simple common sense to conduct themselves appropriately. When Jack and Kate got hungry, they didn't want to put Sawyer on the fire. Here, most of the kids have little problem with degenerating into cannibalism.
Another thing is striking: the way in which this movie is shot lends itself to near silence, if not total silence. Each scene comes together with expressions and action allowing the audience to literally turn the volume off and still understand the movie. It's rare a film does that. Film is a visual and auditory medium, not one or the other. To that end, a blend of those senses is employed by most directors. Here, director Brook allows the cast of unknowns to tell the story through their amateur faces and expressions. Yes, there is dialogue-too much at times-but even the closing look by one of the boys speaks more than any words could.
There is more to the film, obviously, but most of the boys become so interchangeable that it doesn't really matter who is Piggy, who betrayed whom and that sort of thing. And there are easy enough social/political messages here about building a community/country and the value of rules. By and large, at least for me, this one is about the visuals.