This film, which is based loosely, so loose in fact that it practically unravels entirely in the second half, has very little to recommend itself as an exploration of any serious societal issues. The acting was decent, and although the three main characters (Yank, or Hank in the film, Paddy, and Long)are played decently by the actors, their efforts fall short of depicting the real sentiment that lies beneath this adaptation, which is this; a world where people are divided by social class, and a world in which Hank is searching unsuccessfully "to belong." The last twenty minutes of movie slaughters any significance the author intended the work to have. In the play, Yank's(Hank in the film)personal struggles with his own inner animalistic behavior and perhaps his inability or unwillingness to evolve into an accepted 'gentleman' amount to a poignant climax. After striving for a niche in the modern world, he finds that his place is more rudimentary--that of the coal rooms on the freighter. And with his realization, the play holds a richer context. The film on the other hand completely disregards any of the far reaching consequences of social and class segregation. In typical movie cheesiness, the film has Hank unconvincingly change into a person accepting of the newly emerging white collar society. He sees the ape at the Circus; at the same time confronting his own identity as man or beast. This is where the film departs from the play, and subsequently loses its powerful insight. In the play, Yank's own anger and the mistreatment he has partly inflicted on himself finally overtake his rational and human side. He sees himself as the ape, and decides to unleash the creature, hoping to bring some of the chaos and crude power that he believes 'makes the world go.' But in the film, he clearly does not take this route. The film takes the easy way out, and Hank shifts somewhat unbelievably into a more dignified man. He visits Mildred, and flips a coin at her, an action that serves to illustrate how he understand and can operate in the new world based on monetary foundations. It also could show how he maintains a bit of his resistance to such a world. Yet, the overall message is that there is no difference between classes, which at the time, and even today, could not be any further from the truth. The film concludes in a way that tries to wrap up all the unsettling questions the play brings to the surface. At the film's end, a friend asks Hank how the other half(meaning the upper crust of society), lives. Hank responds by saying nonchalantly, "just like us." While the film seems here to make the accurate point that we are all humans, and in that very narrow view we do all live the same way, it misses the monumental undertones that fuel the play and make it 'move.'
Review of The Hairy Ape
