A Book and A Movie: “An Enemy of the People”

Abstract

Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen, in his book "An Enemy of the People" written in 1882, claims not only that the water of a spa is polluted with the waste of factories owned by rich merchants, but also that the entire Norwegian community is poisoned, from the mouth of the town doctor, because social life is based on a "lie" ground. The story takes place in a small town on the southern coast of Norway. The town's doctor, Tomas Stockmann, finds that there are plenty of E. coli in the spa water, which is an important source of income for the town. When he searches for its source, he finds that it is contaminated with the waste of the leather factories where the hot spring water comes from. Thereupon, he explained this situation to the public and wrote an article on closing the factories and the spa and replacing the pools and all pipes as a solution, and gave it to his town's newspaper, "People's Post", for publication. Closing the spa and building new facilities will be very costly and create a lot of noise, both financially and for tourists coming to the town. First, the editor of the newspaper and then his brother, Mayor of the Municipality and Spa Board of Directors, Peter Stockmann, who are aware of the article, try to dissuade the doctor from publishing the article. After all this, the Doctor decides to continue the fight with the support of his wife and children. However, his article is not published by the newspaper. He wants to print and distribute a brochure, but no printing house will accept it. He wants to organize a public meeting, but no hall owner will allow it. Finally, Captain Horster, a close friend of his, opened the living room of his house, which has a large hall, for him to hold a meeting. At the end of this meeting, a vote is held and the doctor is declared "an enemy of the people" by the town. The next day, the spa management dismisses the doctor without compensation, and the doctor's house is stoned by the public and its windows are broken. The Mayor tells the doctor to leave the town for six months and then return, provided that he writes a letter stating that the spa is clean. The doctor harshly rejects this suggestion and states that he will continue the fight even if alone. The play, which was staged by Rutkay Aziz and his friends at the AST in the 1980s and which I had the chance to watch, was staged by many theaters, including the State Theaters, and most recently, as of November 2024, it has been staged again by Rutkay Aziz, this time in Istanbul. The book was turned into a movie in 1978, with a budget of 2.5 million dollars, based on Arhur Miller's 1950 screenplay adaptation. In the 103-minute film directed by George Schaefer, the town doctor is played by Steve Mc Queen and the mayor is played by Charles Durning.