Well, this is about as close to the bone as a feature can get for me: A post-apocalyptic Aussie film, where a virus has decimated humanity, that came out just last month. Have to admit, after covering Edge Of Extinction for FilmInk a while ago, I was expecting to end up with another perplexing sit that managed to make the end of the world insufferably boring. Thankfully, that’s not what we get here; in fact, it’s a fittingly depressing look at humanity’s collapse when the rest of the world goes to shit.
It starts out on a rather zealous note with a camp of survivors run by Pappa (Jasper Bagg), where there is many a quoting from the Bible. But when they come into conflict with another group, who more closely resemble the War Boys sans chrome spray paint, the cracks in their happy little commune start to appear. It follows a similar path to the likewise-apocalyptic It Comes At Night in how it highlights that the greatest threat in the midst of a world-destroying pandemic isn’t the pandemic itself, but other people.
Again, serious EOE flashbacks, but the handling of the characters is far smoother. It starts out on a quite warm note, as it initially shows that the Australian ideal of mateship managed to survive the end of the world, but as the cracks deepen, their own internal conflicts grow with them. It makes for pretty tragic viewing, where the bulk of the bad shit that ends up happening is either a result of them in-fighting so badly that they miss something vital, or their attempts to show kindness only exacerbate things further. Part of that admittedly is the result of character actions so contrived, it constantly runs the risk of turning full idiot plot, but the acting is grounded enough to keep things on this side of watchable.
Where the film’s dour streak reaches its most thought-provoking is how it highlights the actions of the men within both camps, and how a lot of it comes down to pretence about protecting their own, women and children in particular. One of the bigger conflicts comes out of a love triangle, and Amelia Corneby as Charlotte ends up being the child voice of reason, and an emblem for how much macho bullshit is blinding everyone around her. That, and fundamentalist bullshit, given how badly Pappa’s righteous veneer not only slips to reveal something dangerous, but I’m willing to bet the whole divine plan ‘things happens for a reason’ perspective doesn’t hold up to something as inherently chaotic as a plague. When things don’t go to plan, and you wrap your entire life around there being a plan, that strain can do terrible things to people.
While I’d argue that this film is more unpleasant than satisfying to sit through, it serves its purpose as a look at how we would react to a pandemic of this scope. And an arguably accurate one at that, as it seems like our own little doomsday scenario on this side of the screen has given rise to some pretty… uncomfortable attitudes between people. It may not be doing great things for me mentally to consider how much this reflects the real Australia’s reaction to plague, but when depicting scenarios like this, that’s part of the point: Truths about ugly situations can be just as ugly.
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