El final del que partimos

With a fairly biblical storm raging outside, an heavily pregnant mother (Jodie Comer) is sitting at home watching the telly. Power goes out, waters break then the struggle to get boyfriend (Joel Fry) and ambulance to hospital is the start of their woes. Leaving, they discover that huge swathes of England are under water so they head to higher ground and his parents. Fortunately, they have had a long ridiculed bit of a siege mentality so there's plenty of food but that's about all as the family units begin to disintegrate, just as society is doing at large elsewhere. The couple become separated and the un-named mother must now find safety for herself and her baby until some form of normality returns. This is another hugely emotional effort from Comer with Fry, a fleetingly potent contribution from Benedict Cumberbatch and a strong role for new-found friend Katherine Waterson working well, too. The story though - well it reminded me a little of "Children of Men" (2006). A rather depressing and dreary chronology - augmented with some flashbacks of happier days - of how individuals deal with disaster, be they self induced or imposed, and I struggled to remain engaged as the narrative lumbered along. The direction and the score are also fairly lacklustre. One too many shots of cars driving along, of mother carrying baby, cheering baby, nursing baby - and talking of the baby, boy does it age! If it's meant to be a very personal, intimate even, indictment of mankind's inhumanity to itself when facing desperation then it just about works, anything else was rather wasted on me, I'm afraid.

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.

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.

The End We Start From hadn't been on my radar before and the trailer didn't give a huge amount away. I had no expectations but it wasn't a bad little film. It had a made for TV style and was clearly produced on a low budget. If you are expecting epic disaster or dramatic dystopian events then you will be disappointed. If you enjoyed 28 Days Later or How I Live Now then The End We Start From should be an enjoyable watch for you, although both those films are better than this. Jodie Comer is quite captivating but I feel like her big starring film role is yet to come. Luckily it wasn't overlong so it didn't drag on.

I had been putting off watching The End We Start From for a few months, only because I knew that I needed to be in the right state of mind to take it all in.

I was not left disappointed. This British Indie disaster film is so quiet and understated, I can imagine if it had been done in America, it would have been quite over the top.

Jodie Comer is brilliant as a mother trying to get herself and her baby through the flooding disaster that has hit the UK. Separated from her partner she battles to keep them safe and battles with her memories to try and let go.

This is honestly an extraordinary film. I highly recommend it.