A separation needs to be made between disaster scenarios & post Apocalypse. In a lot of Hollywood films, earthquakes, volcanoes, massive floods constitute a disasterpiece which the goverment somehow manages to stop it before everyone dies. This is a disaster scenario. How many times do we really see what goes on after ? After everyone dies and the earth is destroyed? It’s not as frequent as you think. It has been represented & epitomized by zombies because of what zombies represent to the human unconscious, a form of survival after extinction, but other than that, a legitimate depiction of the post-Apocalypse remains rare.
One of the few films which, in my opinion, seriously deal with this is Luc Besson’s first feature film “Le Dernier Combat” (1983), starring Pierre Jovilet, Jean Reno & Jean Bouise. I am not at all Besson’s biggest fan but I admire his representation of our survival as having returned to the most primitive of states with no language (the film has no dialogue) & rock art.
Here are some photos of what I think is Besson’s underrated chef-d’oeuvre. © Luc Besson.
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