The End We Start From

Far better than the reviews suggest, this is a well made indie climate fiction road movie in a similar style to 28 Days Later and Children of Men. But unlike those two excellent films, this is a character driven and a more ambient experience. It still follows a linear plot and is not what I would describe as overly art house (think Terrence Mallick) but I can understand why it might be a little slow and non-immediate for some. But it is a beautifully shot movie with great performances and a standout turn by the excellent Jodie Comer, who displays believable strength and vulnerability in a story that steers clear of contrivance, cliche, and convenience.

Wikipedia told me this was a story about a woman escaping London after an ecological disaster wipes out 99% of humanity. This is definitely not true. Poignant, but not really a disaster flick. If you are a sicko like me and love scenes of destroyed, ruined cities and absolute destruction, there are very few of those and the movie does not lean on them at all.

Other than that, Jodie Comer is great, and I thought Waterston was great as well. If you want to see a young mum of a newborn getting stuff done and developing her own agency as both a mother and a woman while dealing with ecological disaster, this will do nicely.

I knew almost nothing about "The End We Start From" when I booked my ticket, no trailer, no poster even, it just worked out timewise so I took the plunge. Whilst the performances were pretty good, I'm less convinced of the point of the actual story.

A couple (Jodie Comer and Joel Fry) have a baby, just as the UK is in the early stages of an ecological crisis. Months of ongoing rainfall leave much of the country underwater and make the low-lying towns and cities uninhabitable. They travel north, to the home of the parents of Fry's character (Mark Strong and Nina Sosanya) but as the rain continues to fall, their supplies dwindle, and the population slowly begins to get desperate.

I'd say I appreciated the film, more than I actually liked it. It's dragged along by another virtuosa performance from Jodie Comer, who is in virtually every scene. She's ably supported by Fry though, who abandons his usual comedic turns for something altogether more haunted. The really strong supporting cast also include roles for Katherine Waterston, Gina McKee and a cameo from Benedict Cumberbatch. It's a very British version of this sort of story and the scenes of London devastation brought to mind "28 Days Later". You can tell how serious things are becoming when we won't form an orderly queue for emergency supplies.

I'm not really sure what it was in service of though. I feel like there must be a bigger theme that I'm missing, I suspect that it's perhaps loss and coping mechanisms, as we're told later in the film that Comer's characters parents recently passed away, and she's not really dealt with it. Generally, the story feels like a largely unconnected series of vignettes though and it was, for me, lacking some moment of ultimate revelation. I wonder if, in the book, it's easier to tie a connection between the commune's decision to abandon life as it was, in comparison to her decision to have a baby as way of dealing with her parents' death. Maybe I'm way off though.

So, lots to admire about this, but not a whole lot to love and I can't imagine that I'll ever see the need to watch it again.

Like all the best disaster movies, The End We Start From understands that the most important aspect is making sure you care about the people who are trying to survive this possible apocalypse. Whilst it has its fair share of bleak moments, showing how quickly and violently civilisation can crumble, it's ultimately a hopeful disaster movie.

Jodie Comer is absolutely phenomenal in her finest cinematic showcase to date. She displays a whole range of emotions from the unbridled joy of having a child to the fear of never feeling truly safe in a constantly changing environment whilst having a really beautiful friendship with a super likeable Catherine Waterston. Her chemistry with Joel Fry is also endearing.

Mahalia Belo's direction can show the brutality of this changed world without wallowing in misery. The scale is pretty impressive, especially considering the low budget and it ends on a final shot that makes the whole thing coalesce. The score by Anna Meredith really stands out because it doesn't sound like anything else in the genre. It's so modern and understated.

This is Jody Comer's film throughout: the camera hardly leaves her from start to finish. Its a low-budget disaster/dystopia movie with some obvious references to climate change and how it could impact on ordinary people and society. The End We Start From isn't a classic disaster movie with overused CGI, a cast of thousands and a budget running into several hundred millions (thankfully) Its an insular, intimate portrait of one woman and her newly born baby trying to survive a terrible natural disaster and on this level, it largely works.

Comer gets some sterling, if fleeting acting support from Joel Fry, Katherine Waterson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong, yet every scene is a platform for her acting ability. Sometimes she says nothing at all, just shows some wonderful maternal love and support for her infant and displays a naturalistic presence in the face of hopelessness.

The movie itself is sparse to say the least. It just about gets across the message of how things could be in this type of situation. However, many scenes are far too abstract and simplistic. A little more context is required, even just a background radio giving out emergency bulletins or a broken road sign along a soggy road to give some geographical placing. Society breaks down, as it inevitably would and the Brits show their legendary stoicism, but it's all on one level, not much horror and no humour - both essential in any successful disaster, dystopian movie; it borders on the boring.

In the end the excellent Comer pulls it through.