Lord of the Flies

Following the success of Adolescence, Jack Thorne returns with another tale of lost innocence. Just as the aforementioned show exposed the perniciousness of the manosphere, Lord of the Flies looks at a prepubescent variety of androcentric populism.

Thorne’s adaptation of William Golding’s seminal novel is a brilliantly visceral viewing experience. As with the much-lauded Adolescence, it’s as cinematic as a small-screen production can get. The tragic Piggy (David McKenna) is the focus of the first episode, as he attempts to gather his fellow schoolboys and establish a democratic order amid the wreckage of their doomed flight. He cares for the stranded young children, ie, the “little ‘uns”, and insists that his chum Ralph (Winston Sawyers) be appointed island chief by popular vote over self-professed chief Jack (Lox Pratt). All the while, Piggy is punished for his kind heart, as the boys descend into degeneration. And so begins the chaos of that uninhabited island.

Pratt is majestically ominous in the role of public schoolboy Jack, his every flare of the nostrils unnerving, while Sawyers captures with remarkable intensity the horrors of youthful folly gone awry. Representing the death of democracy, Piggy starts out as a well-meaning, compassionate boy who is physically and psychologically beaten into submission, with the outstanding McKenna embodying the role to torturous effect. Such performances are even more impressive considering the inexperience of the young cast.

Marc Munden’s direction heightens the horror, with haunting close-ups of the children’s faces building an oppressive atmosphere. A scene in which Piggy’s asthmatic breathing and laboured heartbeat pound against the sound of crashing waves is particularly poignant.

The psychological battles of preadolescent boys are highlighted through the transformative nature of isolationism. Jack’s antipathy towards violence is reflective of the normalisation of physical punishment in public schools at the time the book was written, and Thorne stays true to the source material in depicting this. And as the horrors unfold, we’re forced to confront some troubling truths about the tendency towards individualism prevalent among youth today.

Another triumph for Thorne, Lord of the Flies does justice to the enduring appeal of Golding’s novel. With an exceptionally talented young cast and evocative direction, it’s deliberately uncomfortable, riveting viewing.