Geoff Murphy’s 1985 effort The Quiet Earth is one of the most interesting post-apocalyptic visions I’ve ever seen on film. Unlike Waterworld (1995) or George Miller’s Mad Max series, Murphy’s film does not drop us into a preexisting mythology about the end of civilization as we know it. Instead of asking us to pick up on the norms of the world after a global catastrophe has destroyed life as we know it, The Quiet Earth drops us into the story at the exact second the disaster occurs. It comes in the form of a phenomenon that causes the entire population of the planet, save for apparently one man, to suddenly disappear. At this exact time, scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) is startled awake in his bed. He starts his day in a typical enough fashion until at a gas station he can’t find a clerk, or anyone else for that matter. Wandering the streets, he begins to realize that he is alone. He goes to his work, a major research site developing a universal power grid for defense technologies, and finds a control panel operator literally melting at his desk. The film’s first half hour contains almost no dialogue but is both engaging and compelling. Most movies like this feature a principle actor who looks like an MMA fighter and a horrible unseen force that lurks in the emptiness. It’s relieving to see a smart guy character in this situation, and refreshing that the basic issue of human loneliness is at the core of this first act.
In an attempt to contact anyone else that remains alive, Zac records and broadcasts a radio message on a loop detailing his address and phone number. However, he’s forced to change the message soon thereafter when he realizes that, as the last man on earth, he can now have any home he chooses. He opts for a life of extravagance, using shopping malls and fast cars as his playthings, waking each morning in a large mansion. When the solitude begins to wear on him, he dawns a woman’s slip to express a feminine side. In a brilliant scene, he collects standing cardboard cutouts of famous individuals and makes a speech to them from his chateau balcony. He is the god of the emptiness. Eventually the lack of conversation begins to wear on him. He visits a church, carrying the shotgun that’s become his constant companion, and in a rage desecrates a crucifix. Religious symbolism aside, the sequence is a powerful testament to the need for human interaction. When such interaction does come along, it’s in the form of a woman. Emerging seemingly from nowhere is Joanne (Alison Rutledge), and though Zac has never seen her before the two embrace almost immediately. The relationship they form is as normal as one could expect for their situation. Their days consist of combing their city for other survivors, and it’s questionable at this point whether or not they even hope to find anyone else. They seem comfortable with the knowledge that if the planet is to be repopulated it will start with them. Though sex is never discussed at length, they do a fine job of playing the game of sexual politics.
These politics become complicated when another man, Api (Pete Smith), comes upon them. The triangle relationship is rocky from the outset, and it’s clear that one of the men will challenge the other. Murphy plays with this tension for a short while as both Zac and Api reveal things that cause Joanne concern. Zac confesses that he believes his research could be responsible for the strange disappearance of the population, which the three now call simply, “the effect.” Api confides that he may have been to blame for the death of a woman shortly before it happened. These conversations lead to the realization that the trio survived the effect because at the exact moment it took place they were each at their instant of death. Perhaps it is not that the rest of the world’s people have died, but that these three have somehow actually been transferred to an alternate dimension.
These things can all mean as little to the viewer as he or she chooses or could be the basis for an entire mythos of the film, especially springing from its strange conclusion. I’m betting it has some pretty lengthy message boards out there somewhere (in that other alternate universe). But what is important about that potential mythos is that we witness it being created. These characters have no one to tell them why this has happened and no legends or stories telling of a great return to normalcy. They are simply alone in the world, left to sort out their differences.
Language: English
Runtime: 91 Minute
Grade: 3 Hats Off
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