What Happened During The Beginning To Justify The End? Only Joshua Oppenheimer’s Strange Musical Knows.

Joshua Oppenheimer is better known for The Act of Killing, an extremely difficult film to view, and with his latest, The End, it’s just as hard. What I offer is more of a commentary with light review elements. I was curious about this musical because of the post-apocalyptic setting. Also, I always want to look at the next movie Tilda Swinton appears in. She’s well known for playing unusual characters, and I loved her performance in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise. 

This movie has the feel of being set in an art history museum. That is because the paintings Swinton’s character paints encompass a wide range of artistic movements and like those masters before her, they are to express her feelings of anger, pain and happiness. I noticed, and this attention to detail is great because it’s her role I want to decipher the most. If I ever get a chance, I’ll have to ask this director and cinematographer Mikhail Krichmanis if that character design was their intention.

Here, this family is living out their meagre lives in some bunker tucked deep in a salt mine. The destruction of the world means they don’t search for other survivors. They live quite the opulent life, but when someone disturbs their peace, things go to hell quite fast. These characters never mention their names, and I suspect to not identify them implies they represent humanity. When the Son (George MacKay) wants to help a survivor laying by their front door, the others are unwilling to help. Father (Michael Shannon) and Mother (Swinton) know humanity is too far gone, and to disrupt their status quo is a no-no. In what they have experienced from the past is that the world is cruel, and he should trust no one.

In Creative Writing 101, one of the first lessons taught is to show, and not tell. As a result, the musical numbers are not effective at explaining every detail. While I can understand their emotions, the world building is questionable. Also, I get the sense Father is based on this director’s famous namesake, J. Robert Oppenheimer. He is the man who built the atom bomb. Even though this individual’s actions resulted in a much worse calamity, the way he acts shows he has no regrets.

I wished this movie had the Son explore the world instead of the various relationships. This movie is comparable to The Croods since all Father wants to do is to keep the family safe, and that includes holding them back. Although he encourages the arts, he suppresses any thoughts of leaving the cave. Before the film, the story strongly implies that he decided it was best to live with the consequences rather than try to reverse the damage. He’s irredeemable.

And the blockbuster enthusiast in me wanted to see some action happen rather than listen to an endless talk. I hoped for some more exciting content, and there really is none. Everything presented is about a family who’s given up hope, and I suspect even with fresh blood within, what’s said makes me think nothing will change, and that’s a shame.

3 Stars out of 5

The End Movie Trailer