Modernist cinema according to Thompson and David (78) is defined as a cinematic structure of modernism. Thompson and David (78) indicates that modernist cinema presume the world as centreless and splinted that is imprecise, morality as inharmonious and illusive. Because Film itself came to maturity at the modernist period – the period between World War I and WWII – all films have an element of modernism in them in terms of the time period. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner a 1962 film was based on a short story that shared the same title and was written by Alan Sillitoe and directed by Tony Richardson. Realism according to Taylor and Francis (142) is intent to portray ordinary existing life with an intention to personal or regional eccentricities. In keeping with Taylor and Francis (142) there are two types of realism; the procedural realism and subjective realism. Subjective realism come with settings and characters I such a way that the film seem to be real and the viewer feel as if they are witnesses the short scenes.In this essay we focus on subjective realism in the film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
The film narrates a story of a mutinous boy who was sentenced to a borstal for stealing from a bakery. It explains how the boy rose ranks though his prowess effort as along distance runner. This film offers subjective realism on how the boy re-evaluates his status as the governor’s prize runner. It is a story on how youth defied authority with an aim to secure self esteem and the probable cost was continued confinement. The film places its characters meticulously in the social setting and reflects the very basis of a 1960s British society. The film is an outstanding sequence of reasonably analyzed events with harshness and direct impact that seem to possess an extra measure of the present tense. Tom Courtenay who is the centre of the film have been depicted to present authentic subjective realism The film also shows running as a mechanism by which Tom Courtenay is free to examine his self. The governor intrudes his race and seems to take away his freedom when he transformed his activity of running into racing which is depicted as an act of aggression. Smith responds by exercising another choice and flagrantly throws the race.
The film starts with Tom Courtenay running solely along a bleak country road in the 1960s rural England. The film brings Tom Courtenay and other encumbered youthful men in handcuffs. They are taken to detention centre as juvenile offenders to reform. The film back-story is interspersed in flashbacks where Colin’s contemporary experiences at Ruxton contend with the jealousy of the other inmates over favoritism that he gets from the governor, more so when the governor chooses not to chastise Tom Courtenay the same way he does to other inmates over the dining hall riot. In factual to realism Tom Courtenay witness the punishments given to unfortunate inmates like bread and water diet, beatings, kitchen works, and demeaning work at the machine shop. The set up of the film is a grim environment of 1960s England. The confinement facility used in the film scene is real. As a sport film, the film has a sporting setting a field for practice and a running field.
Work cited
Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film history: an introduction. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print.
Taylor & Francis. Film history. University of California Education, 2007. Print.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Dir. Tony Richardson. Perf. Michael Redgrave, and Avis Bunnage. 1962. Columbia, 2002. DVD.
