THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) David Lynch

After releasing his impressive ERASERHEAD, Lynch was commissioned to create the dreamy and nightmarish world of THE ELEPHANT MAN and he did so by following his hero's every step in a world that cornered him to the sides and pushed him to death as a sort of expiation of their own sins and guilt. In the most indelible scene, John Merrick is stalked by a mob of people who think he is less than an animal, and so, in a public bathroom he shouts the words that define the film: "I'm not an animal, I'm a human being, I'm a man". The best dialogue comes from Anthony Hopkins, when he is asked if Merrick is intelligent enough to be conscious of his existence, to what he replies with sadness and honesty: "I pray to God he isn't".