Ever Since the World Ended (2001)

Documentary about the last people left in San Francisco after a plague has wiped out almost all of the population of the world. Good but very imperfect little film that works best when it has the people talking about what it was like during the bad old days as well as how they are getting along. In the small human moments the film shines and you feel as though the world has indeed ended. The problem is that the film wobbles outside of that, the city is too clean, it runs counter to what the people are saying. The film also wobbles when the film drifts out of the city. While I like the idea of seeing whats outside the city, there is something about those sections that just doesn't work. If you can get a chance to see the film and are intrigued by the idea about what happens after, I'd give it a shot, though I'd try to pay no more than a rental. (I should mention that Mythbuster Adam Savage plays one of the survivors who is very much like he is on the show.)

I teach a upper-level class on The Apocalypse at a Long Island College. This film was one that I chose, first for its brevity--75 minutes--but also for its totally thought-provoking exploration of humanity. Of course, one could quibble over some of the unexplainable aspects--for example, how do most of the characters remain so smartly dressed if there haven't been department stores in 12 years? But overall, it's important to see this film as an allegory, not unlike the Medieval play "Everyman," in which every character represents a "type," a "concept," or an "ideal." The acting is so absolutely natural that the viewer completely forgets that this is a scripted film. More than anything, it raises profound questions about the human condition for days after a viewing--always a good sign. I strongly recommend this film to anyone interested in stretching themselves philosophically. Good story, fine editing, terrific acting.

Perhaps having never lived in San Francisco I am missing some cultural revolution in progress there, and perhaps that will be reflected in my following comments:1. The adults miss the old world so why was there no migration? 2. Why does no central government still exist? 3. Why is there no current fear of the plague 4. Why have they not created their own government? Even if they do not pick a leader some strong charismatic person may pick themselves. 5. We have one African American and one Native American and everyone else they speak to is white, thats not a realistic ratio. 6. Everyone is so clean including that fellow who lives in the wilderness(good thing all the hairdressers survived). 7. You are teaching about art? How about engineering, health care,farming etc.. 8. There is such a lack of worry for day to day life there is a guy who dedicates his time to a conspiracy theory. 9. The city is in pristine condition, I would think that a city in the grips of fear would look more like a disaster zone. 10. No one seems to have suffered any trauma except one guy and he seems to have come to terms with it. Of course all these things can be debated. Sometimes it feels like the moral of the story is that people learn nothing. They do so many things that are inconsequential to long term human survival that I do not have any faith in the group as a whole.

So a plague hits San Francisco (and presumably the rest of the USA &/or world??), and 10-12 years later only 186-200 people survive in the Bay area. The punchline: the survivors shown (about 40) in a "documentary" being made by a couple other fellow survivors, all wear polished haircuts; makeup; clean, fashionable clothes; clean-shaved faces, or perfectly groomed goatees and soul patches. Judging by their diction, they almost all sound like they wandered off a college campus or out of a coffee house. The man who is supposed to be menacing to the documentary makers when they enter his property, swings a hammer and grunts, but it just looks like a random clean-cut person pretending to be threatening. The houses shown are freshly painted, the streets have no vegetation popping through cracks, and the only sign of oddity is a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge looking sort of dilapidated. People seem minimally traumatized, there's no explanation of how the plague disappeared or how it was caused or how likely it would be to return. The current generation of kids is happy to live in a quiet peaceful world, there are plenty of supplies left in the huge city so sparsely populated, city water will last at least 20 more years, as will some backup generators and solar panels. Surfer-looking dudes fish and talk about getting back to the land by hunting. Pot is smoked freely. Kids are taught lessons in renaissance art while sitting cross-legged in a circle on a floor in a sparkling clean room. A well-mannered white-haired woman houses a small commune in her large home on a hill, where they eat salad and fresh bread at dinner. Trouble only strikes when a jaded emergency worker who once burned peoples homes, returns to town. He's shot off-camera and people are relieved. Some other anonymous shooter wounds one of the pot-smoking documentary makers when he and others venture out of city limits. He's mercy-killed by one of the friends and no mourning is shown. Um, DUDES? There was a PLAGUE!!!! It killed millions!!!! There's hardly anybody around except corpses!!!! Since when would you have time to teach art? Or keep your house freshly painted? Or put on makeup? Or lounge around smoking weed? Where would you even get fresh makeup? Or such clean, fashionable clothes? Who's doing your hair??? Wouldn't you all be too busy growing the veggies and baking the bread you're eating in your Pier One decorated living room? I'm all for utopia, I'm all for a movie about a utopia, but perhaps this plague wasn't the best premise to use as foundation for how great the world would be with less people. And if the real-life film makers did want to show the flip-side of this utopia, they wouldn't even have needed a bigger budget. Just scout locations for run-down houses, and tell your actors to cut each other's hair for a few months as opposed to getting professional haircuts. Especially the actor who was supposed to be living in the woods, camping in the forest canopy -- unseen by his friends for years. You might want to tell him not to wash his freshly bleached clothing for a few months, and ditch the soul patch.