Film Muser

Film Muser Rating : 3 / 5
Release Date : April 18, 2006
Running Time : 78 minutes
Watch Trailer

Imagine that the entire world’s population is nearly wiped out by a virus, leaving just a handful of survivors. In Ever Since the World Ended two filmmakers take it upon themselves to produce a documentary about the new world that they now live in. Calum Grant and Joshua Atesh Litle make their way through San Francisco speaking with the key members of the remaining 186 inhabitants. Through the many interviews, the filmmakers show the struggles many people face as they long for what they once had twelve years ago when the plague struck. We also get a look at the different attitudes of the youth who have no memory of the old civilization and see their circumstances as a blessing.

I was actually surprised when I started watching this movie. Since I only skimmed the synopsis before watching it, I assumed it was a drama. It wasn’t long into the movie that I realized it was a mockumentary about the surviving civilization following the great plague. It was actually a pleasant surprise since I thought that the idea was very intriguing. The two filmmakers in the film thought that the early civilization after civilization should be documented for the ages, and the small community that had emerged in San Francisco was a prime subject of study.

I found that Ever Since the World Ended did a really good job of showing the struggles that are faced by the community as they try to deal with moral issues. We get a glimpse of how a tribunal attempts to solve a problem with a criminal living in their community. Many want to give him the benefit of the doubt, while other want to seem him banished, or even put to death.

The film spends most of its time looking at similar dilemmas, like procreation, and economics. Since the infrastructure is still intact (for the most part), the movie can focus on these types of issues, rather than the more primal things such as food and shelter. I think that this gives a better insight into the the difficulties that humankind would face during the reemergence of a civil society. The actors are very convincing, and if it wasn’t for the subject matter, at no point would you think that you are watching a faux documentary.

Another very interesting aspect of the film is the perceptions that two distinct age groups (primarily those who were alive or old enough to remember the world prior to the plague, and those who were not) have in regards to their current situation. For those who remember, we see that they are trying to create the new civilization as they remembered it, while the young group who are somewhat naive, are more carefree, and see this as an opportunity to correct the many things that went wrong with the old civilization. I just wish that this area would have been explored further in the film.

This is a very interesting movie, with an original story. The unique idea should be enough for me to recommend this film to everyone, but it can move slow at times, so keep that in mind. The film is a good study of how humans would start to rebuild their civilization after nearly reaching extinction. By setting it 12 years after the event, the film can focus on the moral issues that arise, instead of the initial reaction immediately prior to the disaster, which I think is a lot more compelling.

Memorable Scene
During an interview, a young teenager is discussing how he is tired of hearing about how the world used to be, and how the older people are constantly trying to make things like it was before. He makes an interesting statement along the lines of, “in the direction people were going, they were really screwing up the planet, and it just struck back.” This scene gave me the feeling that it was going to be the ideas of the youth that was going to create the successful civilization.