Rear Window | Film Review

Hey Guys x

This is another older review, which you can see. This movie came out in 1954 and is known as one of Hitchcock's best.

L. B. Jefferies (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair after an accident. When boredom forces him to watch the daily lives of the people in the neighbouring block, he becomes convinced that a murder has taken place. But is he seeing what he thinks he's seeing? And can he get someone to believe him?

There's a reason that this film has such a great reputation - it's amazing!

It's a film that has obviously inspired so many films that came after it. My favourite of which is a film called 'Disturbia', which has pretty much the same plot but it's an updated version, starring Shia LaBeouf. If the plot of a film is interesting enough on its own to inspire various adaptations, that's because it's amazing before it even makes its way to the screen.

One of the best things about it was that, although it takes place in one singular location, it's filmed in such a way that, like the character in the movie, you feel like you're living in the homes of all these different characters. You almost feel like the protagonist of the movie, because like him, you're separated by a boundary (him by his wheelchair, you by your TV screen), but you feel so invested in these people that it's almost like the boundary doesn't matter.

I found that there could be a bit of a social commentary around this film that could be applied to present times.
For example, at first I was really confused about why none of these characters have curtains, but then I thought about it from a different point of view. To me, these characters not having curtains is Hitchcock's way of pointing out that people like being watched and observed. Whether we're talking about the film industry, or the Instagram/social media wave that we have at the moment, there's something interesting about the way that people choose to put themselves on display - like they want people to watch them, and this film definitely makes you think about that.
I almost feel like I could write a whole essay about this point, and I guess I'm missing education because I kind of want to! There's so much to say about the way that older films seem to comment on the way that we live today.

Another great thing about this movie is that you don't know whether this man is right or not, which I really enjoyed because it's not black and white. It kind of makes you have an internal conflict with yourself over whether or not he's right, as multiple characters in the film do.

Overall, this is a great movie, tension is created expertly, and I would definitely encourage everyone to watch it. Though I have to say that the updated versions might appeal more, as I've found with older films that a lot less happens, which might not appeal to people who like films with a lot of action.

8.5/10

Lou