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| Aug 4 2007, 12:08 AM EDT | stevetaylor | 617 words added |
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The Quiet Earth - 1985
Film Review By Nancy Wu Andand Jocelyn Harris
The film opens with a symbolic sunrise, suggesting a new day, a new dawn, a different kind of genesis as a new reality of isolation, and an eerie silence unfolds.
A man-manufactured mechanical malfunction in technology (Operation Flashlight) creates an extinction of all breathing life, with a few rare exceptions in an inexplicable loophole in the phenomenon.
It’s been said “The world would be a great place if it wasn’t for people”.
Yet this movie will challenge that assumption.
What would life be like if there were no people?
As ‘Zac’ awakens to a new reality of life alone, the quest for meaning and purpose in life becomes paramount and the search begins.
How does one function in a life where moral law is redundant, wealth is irrelevant, status is futile and one longs for any kind of relationship, but with seemingly no hope of finding it?
Ironically Zac had seemingly, convinced himself in his earlier life, that he did not need relationships preferring to pursue the wealth, power and prestige in the marketplace.
Perhaps within this movie of visual verbalisation of our ultimate fear – that of being alone- we find our fears realised. Within our world full of people the epidemic of loneliness pervades our culture as we continue to chase down the emptiness of power, status and wealth for fulfilment. Perhaps the message will get through that our quest for fulfilment will only be found within relationship.
-In seeking and finding God, (outside of dead statues in a deserted church building), and others; we find our purpose and ourselves.
Perhaps this is what Jesus was talking about when he discusses with a young theologian about the meaning of life as: “To love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind and all your strength…. And to love your neighbour as you love yourself”(Markyourself.” (Mark 12:28-31)
Set in the 1980’s, this movie mirrors for us an unspoken, cultural anxiety of unreined, technological advances and power gone mad.
A classic speech echoes the danger of techno-abuse.
“How easy to believe in the common good, when that belief is rewarded by status, wealth and power.. How hard it is to believe in the common good when every fibre of my being tells me that the awesome forces that I have helped to create have been put into the hands of mad men!”
That which was intended for good, can be easily corrupted and be misused causing ultimate evil. Raising the disturbing question: “Does technological progress and scientific advance today threaten to over-run ethics today?”
The theme of meaning and purpose in life is hard to avoid in this movie.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 echoes this quest in: “All is vanity, meaningless, futile, and fleeting…”
The search for meaning in –
Luxuries- there is no relevance.
Power- there is no relevance.
Wealth- there is no relevance.
Status- there is no relevance.
So is anything relevant?
Ultimately, love and relationship is the only meaningful quest.
As with many sci-fi movies, a penultimate disaster looms, and a remedy must be found. Acknowledging the reality and history of the problem, a reasonable course of action is undertaken. (Spoiler alert: Yes the hero takes the selfless course of action to save the world)world.)
Sacrificial love motivates his ultimate act of redemption, posing the question: “Does redemption always require an act of sacrifice?”
Whether one views his act of sacrifice as being an act of triumph over potential disaster, or as a fatalistic reaction to hopelessness in a suicidal collision -having lost all else, remains open for conclusion.
Film Review By Nancy Wu Andand Jocelyn Harris
The film opens with a symbolic sunrise, suggesting a new day, a new dawn, a different kind of genesis as a new reality of isolation, and an eerie silence unfolds.
A man-manufactured mechanical malfunction in technology (Operation Flashlight) creates an extinction of all breathing life, with a few rare exceptions in an inexplicable loophole in the phenomenon.
It’s been said “The world would be a great place if it wasn’t for people”.
Yet this movie will challenge that assumption.
What would life be like if there were no people?
As ‘Zac’ awakens to a new reality of life alone, the quest for meaning and purpose in life becomes paramount and the search begins.
How does one function in a life where moral law is redundant, wealth is irrelevant, status is futile and one longs for any kind of relationship, but with seemingly no hope of finding it?
Ironically Zac had seemingly, convinced himself in his earlier life, that he did not need relationships preferring to pursue the wealth, power and prestige in the marketplace.
Perhaps within this movie of visual verbalisation of our ultimate fear – that of being alone- we find our fears realised. Within our world full of people the epidemic of loneliness pervades our culture as we continue to chase down the emptiness of power, status and wealth for fulfilment. Perhaps the message will get through that our quest for fulfilment will only be found within relationship.
-In seeking and finding God, (outside of dead statues in a deserted church building), and others; we find our purpose and ourselves.
Perhaps this is what Jesus was talking about when he discusses with a young theologian about the meaning of life as: “To love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind and all your strength…. And to love your neighbour as you love yourself”(Markyourself.” (Mark 12:28-31)
Set in the 1980’s, this movie mirrors for us an unspoken, cultural anxiety of unreined, technological advances and power gone mad.
A classic speech echoes the danger of techno-abuse.
“How easy to believe in the common good, when that belief is rewarded by status, wealth and power.. How hard it is to believe in the common good when every fibre of my being tells me that the awesome forces that I have helped to create have been put into the hands of mad men!”
That which was intended for good, can be easily corrupted and be misused causing ultimate evil. Raising the disturbing question: “Does technological progress and scientific advance today threaten to over-run ethics today?”
The theme of meaning and purpose in life is hard to avoid in this movie.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 echoes this quest in: “All is vanity, meaningless, futile, and fleeting…”
The search for meaning in –
Luxuries- there is no relevance.
Power- there is no relevance.
Wealth- there is no relevance.
Status- there is no relevance.
So is anything relevant?
Ultimately, love and relationship is the only meaningful quest.
As with many sci-fi movies, a penultimate disaster looms, and a remedy must be found. Acknowledging the reality and history of the problem, a reasonable course of action is undertaken. (Spoiler alert: Yes the hero takes the selfless course of action to save the world)world.)
Sacrificial love motivates his ultimate act of redemption, posing the question: “Does redemption always require an act of sacrifice?”
Whether one views his act of sacrifice as being an act of triumph over potential disaster, or as a fatalistic reaction to hopelessness in a suicidal collision -having lost all else, remains open for conclusion.
