Quiet Earth

A Lonely Post-Apocalypse

Main Cast: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith

Director: Geoff Murphy

Plot Summary: A man wakes up to find that everyone is gone and he may be the last person on Earth. What happened? And can things be as they seem?

Less populated but certainly character detailed, this post-apocalypse offering focuses mainly on one man. He wakes up to find that everyone seems to be gone. He drives around in an increasing panic, finding nobody – either alive or dead. He finally gets to work and discovers that some type of scientific experiment may have caused the disaster, and he was involved.

Things do start off slow but creepy, as the man drives around empty streets. As this is not a horror film, no zombies or such shamble out of the shadows. It is a drama, a character piece. What would you do in his place? Maybe what he did. Find a radio and set up a broadcast, settle down in a posh residence, and hope someone comes along.

When nothing happens for days or weeks on end, the man goes a little crazy. Understandable. He starts trashing things, partly out of frustration, but mostly because he can.

But then. someone else comes along. A woman. And then, later, another man. This, of course, sets up the oldest situation on Earth, a love triangle. Ironic, if they are the only people left. One would hope for more understanding between them. But old mores are hard to break.

The first man, meanwhile, tries to figure out what has happened, and is happening. I won’t spoil the details, but this development pushes the plot along, for what little of it there is. And the ending? Well- appropriate, I guess, from the material.

This is a nice little film, nothing major, but interesting in a quiet sort of way.