Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World

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Every once in a while a film will genuinely take me by surprise.  I watched Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World with very little knowledge of the film, and even less in the way of expectations.  Don't be fooled as I was by the presence of Steve Carell - this is not a comedy, although it has some subtle comedic moments.

In a nutshell, this is a romantic drama that tells the tale of two individuals facing an impending global apocalypse, thanks to an asteroid that is headed for Earth.  It has the usual cliches that you might expect.  There are riots in the street, as anarchy erupts at the news that the end of the world is no longer nigh, but is in fact here.  Others seem unable to face their certain death, and choose to carry on with their lives as though nothing had changed.  Many just decide to live out their last moments with as much decadence as they can, indulging in one long binge of eating, drinking, smoking, and sleeping around. A few are making plans to survive disaster by hunkering down in a bunker with suitable stockpiles of food and other supplies.

Dodge Peterson (Carell) and his young neighbour Penny (Keira Knightley) are both just looking for a way to reunite with their loved ones for the short remaining time they have left.

It's not a perfect film, occasionally striking the wrong note, and the predictable ending was a little too sentimental for my tastes.  But there are some sublime moments here.  One scene in particular comes to mind, as a newsreader delivers a heartfelt speech in his final broadcast before returning home to his wife and children.  It is a scene filled with a deep and genuine pathos.

I loved the slow, gentle pace that the film takes, never in a hurry to reach the inevitable conclusion, content merely to enjoy the journey instead.  If you're a people watcher, then this film will definitely appeal to you.  Sit back and medidate on the wry observations it has to offer.

But whilst you're meditating on the deeper things, I'd encourage you to give some thought to the one thing that sadly nobody in this movie seems to spend a moments thought on.  That is, what happens after the end of the world?

I don't mean finding a bunker to take shelter in either.  I mean, if there truly were an apocalypse from which it was guaranteed there would be no escape.  What would your reaction be if you had sufficient warning?

The response seen here is almost biblical in a way.  What I mean by this is the words spoken of in the Gospel of Luke: "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all".

If we knew that our own death was imminent and unavoidable, surely there would be some wisdom in trying to search out what life might await us after death, since eternity would gain far more significance for us at that stage than whatever activities we might cram into our last hours or days in this life.

Of course, in pondering this, don't forget to consider one last point that we often overlook.  We may not have an asteroid headed our way, but for all of us, death, like taxes, is still unavoidable.  And life is much shorter than we think.