The Quiet Earth (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Quiet Earth | |
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| Directed by | Geoff Murphy |
| Produced by | Sam Pillsbury, Don Reynolds |
| Written by | Craig Harrison, Bill Baer |
| Starring | Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith |
| Distributed by | Unknown |
| Release date(s) | 1985 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $Unknown |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Quiet Earth is a 1985 New Zealand science fiction film directed by Geoff Murphy, based on the 1981 science fiction novel by Craig Harrison.
[edit] Plot
"Zac Hobson, July 5th. One: there has been a malfunction in Project Flashlight with devastating results. Two: it seems I am the only person left on Earth."
Zac Hobson (Lawrence) is a scientist at Telinco, part of an international consortium working on "Project Flashlight", an ambitious experiment apparently designed to tap the vacuum energy fluctuations of space itself.
July 5th begins as a normal winter morning near Auckland, New Zealand. The sun rises out over the ocean, whilst seagulls and other birds are seen and heard on and about the beach. Zac is apparently sleeping in an ocean-front motel room as the morning sun shines in through the window. At precisely 6:12 am the sun momentarily darkens and we briefly see a red light surrounded by darkness (as if seen through a tunnel). The sun then returns to normal and Zac awakens abruptly, appearing somewhat surprised. Looking out the window, he sees the rising sun, but doesn't notice there are no longer any sounds of the birds or other animal life. The radio produces only static. Calling the motel operator, Zac gets no reply. He dresses, gets into his car, and drives toward the city.
As he approaches the city, he discovers that there are no other humans or animals to be found. Moreover, it appears that everyone has simply vanished in the midst of their routine activity. Downtown Auckland is utterly deserted. Investigating a fire, he discovers the remains of a crashed jetliner. But there are no bodies, only empty seats (with fastened seat belts).
Arriving at his place of work, he enters an underground laboratory and logs onto the computer system, which simply indicates "Project Flashlight Complete". He finds no people, save for a single burned and disfigured body, whom he recognizes as that of a colleague. His discovery causes the body to fall onto the control panel, triggering a radiation leak. This results in the lab becoming sealed. Since there is no one there to let him out, Zac is trapped. While trying figure out how to escape the sealed lab, he goes to his office and plays back his personal tape recorder. From this we get a better idea of what happened to everyone: their disappearance occurred at the precise moment that "Project Flashlight" was activated. Finally, by rigging a makeshift explosive, he escapes and seriously begins to assess his situation.
Since the electric power is still operating, Zac goes to a radio station and sets up a repeating broadcast, asking anyone who hears it to contact him at his home. After several days without reply, his mental state begins to deteriorate. He alternates between exhilaration and despair. He moves into a large mansion and begins to loot the stores for all kinds of material possessions and luxuries. He plays with real trains and police cars as if they were toys, and begins to wear all types of fancy clothing. Eventually he breaks down altogether, and places cardboard cutouts of famous historical figures (such as Adolf Hitler, Richard Nixon, and Pope John Paul II) on the lawn. He addresses the figures from a balcony via a makeshift PA system. Zac speaks in Caesar-like fashion, all whilst clad in a woman's slip. He accompanies his speech with recorded fanfare and applause. The electric power finally fails, just as he has declared himself "President of this Quiet Earth".
At this point he becomes violent, and goes on a destructive rampage throughout the city. He is still wearing the slip, which is now tattered and missing one of its straps, making it a grotesque parody of a caveman's skin. He tears through a church and demands that God show Himself ("If you don't come out. I'll shoot the KID!!!" he screams, whilst pointing his shotgun at a statue of Jesus). He shoots the statue to pieces, and finally declares himself to be God. He drives heavy construction equipment though buildings, stopping his rampage only after running over a pram, which he realizes could have easily had a baby inside.
Totally despondent, he points the barrel of the shotgun into his mouth, with the intention of killing himself. Before pulling the trigger however, he manages to pull himself back from the brink of madness. We then see him emerge naked from the ocean and run back to shore, (and more symbolically) back to sanity.
Having re-established himself in an adequate but more modest home, he sets up a generator and programs a computer with sensors to monitor the local conditions. He is beginning to notice subtle changes in the environment, suggesting that the disappearance of everyone may not be the only consequence of the experiment.
One morning he is surprised to come across another survivor, a young woman named Joanne (played by Alison Routledge). Together they begin to search for other survivors, and eventually become lovers.
After a time they are confronted by yet a third survivor: a large Māori man named Api (played by Pete Smith). The expected love triangle develops between them, but Zac is more concerned by some very disturbing observations: Several fundamental constants of the universe (such as the elementary charge of the electron and proton) have changed, and are continuing to do so. The sun is fluctuating in output, and may be on the verge of collapse. Zac believes that "The Effect" (as the event which wiped out humanity has come to be called) may be about to occur again.
During this time, the three of them come to realize why they survived the Effect: they were all on the verge of death when it happened. Api was being drowned in a fight with another man when the Effect occurred. Joanne was electrocuted by a faulty appliance at the same time. We also find out that Zac had in fact gone to the motel to commit suicide, and had taken a fatal overdose of pills at the time of the Effect.
Api suggests that the way to prevent the Effect from recurring is to destroy the facility at Telinco, which is still operating. This will unbalance the Project Flashlight "grid", and (hopefully) stop the Effect from happening again.
The three manage to put aside their mounting personal tensions, in order to attempt to destroy the Telinco facility. They approach the facility with a truckload of explosives, only to be driven back at the perimeter by high levels of ionizing radiation. Zac heads back toward town, supposedly to obtain a remote control device, by which to drive the explosive laden truck into the facility. While he is gone, Joanne and Api make love, after which Api announces his plan to sacrifice himself by driving the explosives into the facility alone.
Before he can do so however, they both see that Zac has already begun to drive the truck in himself. As the truck reaches the facility, it falls through the roof into the underground lab, while the Effect begins to occur. Just as the Effect reaches a maximum, Zac activates the detonator switch, which sets off the explosion.
Once again we see the red light surrounded by the dark tunnel (as seen in the beginning of the film), but for a more extended time. As the Effect subsides we see Zac once again alone, lying face down on a beach. There are strange cloud formations over the water, resembling waterspouts. As he rises and walks to the water's edge, we see an enormous ringed planet rising on the horizon.
The film closes on Zac's face, bewildered and unable to comprehend what has just happened. He holds up his personal tape recorder as if to speak, but then lowers it. It is clear there is nothing left to say.
