The Quiet Earth (1985)

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nTitle: The Quiet Earth (1985)

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nDirector: Geoff Murphy

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nCast: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Peter Smith

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nReview:

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nThe Quiet Earth presents us with one of the quietest versionsnof the apocalypse ever portrayed on film. Usually, in post apocalyptic films,nthe end of the world comes via a nuclear bomb or a deadly virus…on The QuietnEarth people simply blink out of existence. One day, Zac Hobson wakes up andnslowly discovers that apparently he is the last man on earth. The streets arenempty, not a soul in sight. Where the hell is everybody? Where have they allndissapeared to? I’d seen this film before, but since Im currently conducting this huge post apocalyptic blog-a-thon, I decided to give it a re-watch. Plus, my good friend J.D. from Radiator Heaven suggested it on our 15 of the Apocalypse collaboration, which got me all pumped to watch it again. So, how did it fare? 

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nWhen you watch the first few minutes of The Quiet Earth,nwhen the main character,  Zac Hobson, firstnwakes up naked on his bed and starts walking around town confronted by lonelynstreets and abandoned cars; you might feel as if you were watching Danny Boyle’sn28 Days Later (2002); the similarities between both of these opening sequencesnis staggering! There is no doubt in my mind that Danny Boyle borrowed heavilynfrom The Quiet Earth, at least for the opening sequence. I mean, we even getnthe same kind of camera shots, same kind of situations. When we first meet Zac,nhe is lying naked on his bed, same as Jim when he wakes up from his hospitalnbed in 28 Days Later. They both wonder through the lonely city streets, fillednwith empty cars, they both scream “Hello!” at nobody. They both end up meetingna lady at some point. The difference between both films is that while 28 DaysnLater is a film about a deadly virus that turns people into violent, bloodnthirsty zombies, The Quiet Earth takes a more existential approach with it’snstory.

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nI love this kind of science fiction films because it takesnthe opportunity to explore human behavior. It analyzes society. The main themenin the film is humanities destructive capabilities and how we are alwaysnlooking for better and more effective ways of destroy ourselves. Now, thosenfamiliar with history know what we humans are capable of doing to ourselvesnwhen we start hating each other. In The Quiet Earth we meet Zac Hobson, anscientist who’d been working -in collaboration with scientists from around thenworld- in a new form of energy. Unfortunately, after he is in deep, hendiscovers the awesome destructive capabilities of the project he is working onn(called Project Flashlight) and decides to not only stop working on it, but tonactually kill himself; which brings to mind all those scientists that worked onnconstructing the Atomic Bomb. When we think about these guys, the question inevitablynarises: where were their collective consciences? Did they not feel guilt overnthe fact that what they were making something that would go on to blinknthousands of lives out of existence? But this is just one of the themes thatnThe Quiet Earth addresses.

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nIt also talks about government and how once they reachnpower, and are engulfed by it, they act as mad men. We let them rule over us,nand they turn into mad men doing things we end up being ashamed of. For examplenZac soon comes to terms with the fact that he could very well be the last mannon earth. After a while, and during a time when he is mingling with insanity, hendecides that he will become “the president of this Quiet Earth” Why does hencrown himself president? As he speaks to cardboard cut outs of importantnhistorical figures like The Pope, Hitler and Nixon (interesting how thenfilmmakers placed them all one next to the other!) Zac mentions that we are atnthe mercy of madmen, a very real statement when we take in considerations thenhorrors that have been committed by politicians across history! Yes my friends,nthis is a film that tells us that we are better off without politicians andnwithout religion. There is this amazing and extremely controversial scene innwhich Zac enters a church and starts asking God to show up. “Where are you?” Henasks. Then, he threatens god by telling him that if he doesn’t show up, he isngoing to blow away “the kid”, referring to a crucifix of Jesus. Since God doesn’tnshow up, Zac proceeds to blow Jesus Christ away with a shotgun! And he proclaimsnhimself God! This film is saying, there is no God. If there was, he’d give andamn. Instead, humans should realize they are the ones with the potential tonmake their lives better.

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nAnother question this film asks is, what would you do if younwere The Last Man on Earth? If you felt no one was watching you? If you had nongovernment, no religion and no fellow man to judge you? For a while there, Zacngoes totally nuts. He looses it, becomes a drunkard, he feels like he wants tondestroy the world. These scenes reminded me of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend andnVincent Price in The Last Man on Earth (1964) because we meet a man who walksnthe earth alone, driven insane by loneliness.  The film deals with this idea that we neednother humans and I agree, we do need our fellow man. We need the warmth we giveneach other when we are at our best, when we forget all these petty differencesnthat often times tear us apart. War, patriotism, religious fanaticism, socialnstatus, all these things do is separate us. What the film asks is: what ifnthese things were never around? What if we were all the same? Would this be anbetter world? According to the film, it would be. What if the world wasn’t soncentered around making money? Around ‘being successful’? What if we could just enjoynthe world and its many beauties and treasures? Enjoying each others company andnmaking each other happy? Often times I think society as we know it is allnwrong. It isn’t about making us happy (though we do try) but upon making usnfeel worse, trapped. Through the redundancy of our lives, the opportunity tonenjoy this world and the beauties it holds is taken from us. The film has thesenbeautiful scenes of humans simply enjoying each others company, having ancandlelit dinner, smiling, laughing, seeing the world. There’s a song by QUEENnthat says “this could be heaven for everyone”, and I totally agree. It couldnbe, but it isn’t heaven for everyone; because the way things are set up, thisnearth is heaven only to the elitist, rich few, the minority. The one percent who want to rule of the other 99. 

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nLast words on The Quiet Earth: this is a film that addressesnmany important issues about life. It questions the status quo of things; itnquestions politics, religion and the way we are. It questions our ideas about whatnhappens after death. It questions our violent natures. I thought it wasninteresting how in this film, whenever a human encounters another they alwaysndo so with a gun in their hands. Humans never seem to trust each other! ThenQuiet Earth comes to us from director Geoff Murphy, the guy responsible fornFreejack (1992), another film that questions reality and social status. Innterms of direction, this film was interesting. First because filming allnthose scenes involving empty city streets must have been a hell of a task that theynpulled it off brilliantly and secondly, constructing a film that centers fornthe most part on one character (and later only on two more) must have beenndifficult, but again, pulled off very well. To me the film was never boringnbecause it plays with so many important and thought provoking issues. In thenend, The Quiet Earth is a very rewarding science fiction film, the ending isnkind of abrupt, but it will keep you asking questions long after it is over;nlike the best science fiction films.

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nRating: 4 out of 5   

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