ment by the author, Nicholas Hytner's film of The Crucible' is conclusive proof that the forty-four year-old piece is more than simply a metaphor for McCarthyism.
Certainly the events of the late forties and fifties in the states were the catalyst for the piece but in no facts of the seventeenth century to crudely represent those of the twen tieth.
The theme is analogous to several oter twendetn century events, not all of which had arisen when Miller wrote it - the Stalinist show trials of the nineteen thirties and Mao's purges during the cultural revolution son why The crucible' is the most performed of Miller's works. some charged that any analogy with The difference between witches and 44 years on - but stil exciting: the new film version of The Crucible Comuns was uns come munism existed, witchcraft was a fantasy. But as with anti-communism in 1950's America, the charge of belarge numbers of those who dared to dissent from the dominant ideol. Ony of the society In the community portrayed by Miller it is clear that the distribution of wealth and property is undergoing a radical transformation. Once a soable amount of equality, the society Sarah Good - an easy target for the The whipped-up hysteria of Devil worship serves a nascent capitalist Thomas Putnam is more than willing to join in the accusations against Giles Correy, a farmer with whom he has dispute over land.
Conspiracy
Those who oppose the hysteria are charged themselves with membership of the Satanic conspiracy John Proctor's confrontation of those who accuse his wife and othagainst his own person. When at the Im's climax he denies the existence was taughe to believe in have col. lapsed. For his accusers this is the fiHytner opens up the fim beyond the confines of the symbolic staze set. It is impressive however that we are still clearly within the parame. boundaries. We see only its limits and not what is beyond it. This physical narrowness act as a metaphor for the insular system of beThe fim has two powerful cenral performances - from Daniel Day Lewis as the tortured Proctor and Paul Schofield as Judge Danforth. a man whose wrestline with his conscience can be detected in every small grimace and inflection of the voice. Both actors exude a kind of superior naturalism with formers could easily degenerate A mere transference of the play to the screen would not have worked and would have resulted in actors giving very stagey performances. Hytner's direction have combined to achieve an exciting and dramatic piece of cinema, the re-telling of a story which is as relevant now as it was aimost nam a century ago.