Percy’s Random Ramblings

…an immortal existed.  Someone who had ridden the waves of time, and somehow never crashed.  That’s the premise of an interesting movie I just have seen – The Man From Earth (which had it’s producer’s encouraging it’s download, which makes it even cooler). 

The story, and the actual cinematics themselves, are fairly simple.  A professor is “retiring”, and his friend surprize him with a going away party.  During the conversation, he reveals that he’s actually a man who has lived over 140,000 years, while not aging a day.  The whole movie is basically this guy’s living room, and the conversation that ensues.  One of the neat features of this movie is that his fellow teachers each represent differing fields (which in turn represent different voices in history/mankind).  There is a biologist, a historian, a psychiatrist, a “modern man” with his trophy wife, a religious literalist, and the open-minded girlfriend. 

One of the interesting things about the movie is the idea that a person who had lived that long wouldn’t stand out.  He wouldn’t be a collector of “relics”.  In most other “immortal” stories (Highlander, for one), it seems that the main character has collected items through the years.  In this movie, there is a reference to a tool that might have been used by early man.  The main character, “John”, makes the point that this tool, to him, would have been no different than a simple pen or pair of scissors to us.  If we were to live that long, would we still have that old pen? 

Another interesting part of this movie is it’s simplicity.  I believe that the entire film was shot in a week, and there are no special effects.  The movie’s “meat” is all dialog.  After watching, I thought this movie would transition well into the theatre. 

Now, there are some controversial bits to the movie, mostly surrounding some of the more religious implications in the movie.  While I may not agree with the sentiment in those moments, it is still an interesting discussion to have. 

All in all, I was surprized at how much the movie made me think.  It’s rare, these days espeically, that a movie leaves you with more questions to ask and more discussions to have.  Usually, they’re just a “good ride”.  Now, those movies have their place, and I enjoy them as much as anyone, but it’s nice to find a movie that’s simple, yet so complex. 

Anyways, if you haven’t, you should check it out.  It’s definately worth the time spent.

Until next time…