This is the rare story of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, enslaved by his body, set free by his dream. Trapped inside the twisted, lesion-ridden grip of a terminally disfiguring disease, Merrick triumphs over his terrible affliction. It is a story of life and the affirmation of life; timeless, tragic, uplifting and heroic. Philip Anglim's exquisite portrayal of John Merrick is all the more exceptional because he does it without elaborate make-up. As Dr. Frederick Treves (Kevin Conway) describes Merrick's deformities to a lecture hall full of medical observers, Anglim contorts his body to match Treves' narrative until, finally, he achieves Merrick's crippled U-shape.