A Revolutionary Approach to Documentary Making
In his pioneering documentary “The Act of Killing,” director Joshua Oppenheimer shattered conventional documentary storytelling. He did this by encouraging his subjects, Indonesian gangsters previously implicated in the country’s death squads, to re-enact their crimes on film. So, with this unorthodox background, why would his debut narrative take a more traditional route?
Unusual Setting for a New Film
In his narrative debut “The End,” Oppenheimer envisages an unusual post-apocalyptic musical set entirely in an underground shelter where an upper-class group stockpiles art treasures and luxury wines awaiting an apocalypse ironically likely of their own doing. The inspiration originated from a documentary Oppenheimer was working on about an exceptionally wealthy and dangerous family, but eventually took the project in a dramatically different direction.
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An Unconventional Appeal
With a hefty runtime of 148 minutes and a remarkable lack of riveting conflict, “The End” does not attempt to appease mainstream audience’s preferences. Instead, Oppenheimer targets the art-house cinema lovers with a thoughtful exploration of guilt and humanity’s ability to justify its wrongdoings. Interestingly, the concept for this film existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Oppenheimer apparently failed to consider that viewers might be all too familiar with narratives surrounding confined living arrangements.
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The Product of Thought-Provoking Art
The resulting parable could have certainly used some suspense to increase the stakes for its group of survivors, but Oppenheimer stands firm in his refusal to make any concessions. Ultimately, “The End” is less of a traditional musical than it is a sophisticated upscale drama peppered with somber original songs (fewer than expected), crafted by Oppenheimer and arranged by Joshua Schmidt, a theatre composer making his cinematic debut.
A Naïve Beginning
The film commences innocuously with a youthful 20-year-old, portrayed by George MacKay, who can’t remember a world before the lockdown. He fiddles with a dramatic historical diorama, featuring Indians, settlers, and slaves cohabitating at Hollywood’s iconic sign, all the while humming a serene tune. His character holds a striking resemblance to Disney’s Little Mermaid’s Ariel, who also harbors a naive curiosity about a world she’s not part of. But when MacKay starts the opening song, “A Perfect Morning,” it becomes evident that his voice, much like the other cast members, seems unpolished for singing – a deliberate choice by Oppenheimer, perhaps.
Living in an Echo Chamber of Denial
Referred to only as “Son,” MacKay’s character was born in this apocalypse shelter and has known no other reality. His parents have for twenty years perpetuated their own biased narrative of events. His mother, portrayed by Tilda Swinton, fondly muses about her supposed days with the Bolshoi, though it’s doubtful she ever performed on stage. His father, an energy tycoon played by Michael Shannon, seems to live in denial about the world they left behind – a world they played a pivotal role in decimating.
Preserving Culture in a Doomsday Shelter
Ensconced in their subterranean shelter, safe from the alleged horrors that humanities succumbed to, the parents have managed to preserve some sense of culture. They do this with the assistance of a personal doctor (Lennie James), a butler (Tim McInnerny), a maid (Danielle Ryan), and an old acquaintance (Bronagh Gallagher) from forgotten times. Swinton’s character spends her days altering the priceless artworks gracing the walls – including Renault’s “The Dancer,” Monet’s “Woman with a Parasol,” and majestic scenic landscapes – while meticulously scrutinizing details like cracks in the plaster.
A Regime of Habit and Routine
The group has been living in this self-sustaining bunker for two decades, and any semblance of “normalcy” has long been rendered irrelevant. They stringently follow all holiday traditions, engaging in ludicrous pageants. Apart from holiday celebrations, each day mimics the last, as Swinton succinctly sings almost two hours into the film in her poignant but piercing solo, “Dear Mom.” Their daily rituals comprise swimming lessons and emergency drills, with survival their primary objective. But to what end?
The Inevitable Question: What’s the Purpose?
This appears to be the driving question behind “The End,” suggesting that people like these should have invested more effort in preventing the apocalypse rather than planning for it. For a while, the film plays out like an elongated sad trombone note at the end of a disaster movie, where a handful of characters survive while the rest of the world perishes. So, what’s next? The parents molded the boy in their own image, marking him as the chronicler of their distorted truth while cautioning him about the threat of “strangers.”
The Arrival of the Stranger
But then, a stranger arrives, known only as “Girl” (Moses Ingram). Her feelings of guilt for abandoning her own family stir up dormant emotions among the bunker inhabitants, who made unthinkable sacrifices during the apocalypse’s early days. The son, now doubtful, asks, “Mom, in the beginning, did you see the people trying to get in?” Such questions are not just uncomfortable for the family but echo the generational divide currently unfolding in America, as the younger generation harshly critiquing what they perceive as their parents’ unforgivable actions.
The Disruptive Arrival
Swinton’s character never intended to let this stranger into their world. “We have to draw the line somewhere,” she declares. They resorted to
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