SOURCE: Sterritt, David. “Undaunted Moral Strength—The Elephant Man's Story.” Christian Science Monitor 72, no. 223 (9 October 1980): 18.

In the following review, Sterritt praises Lynch for his bold cinematic style in The Elephant Man, observing that the film expresses faith in “the ultimate goodness of mankind.”

The story of The Elephant Man has become a modern myth. Books have been written about him, he is the subject of a long-running Broadway hit, and now a new movie [The Elephant Man] tells his history.

Does all this interest amount to a positive sign of the times? I think so. Despite the sad underpinnings of the tale, its message is optimistic and charged with faith in the ultimate goodness of mankind. Who was the elephant man, after all, but a person whose moral strength reundaunted no matter how difficult his physical circumstances became?

The actual elephant man was John Merrick, a handicapped English-man...