Le dernier combat

I am not an expert on film and saw this only by accident on TV years ago. Without knowing the title or director I have been trying to find out what it was ever since. I have just stumbled across it in my local video rental shop and it is just as I remembered. To me a film does not have to be completely original ( mad max, lack of dialogue ) or super fast, have everything explained or even add to 'our understanding of human nature' to be enjoyed. My advice is to sit back, relax and watch this to the end.

no way it would get greenlighted in hollywood today oh my gosh a movie that doesn't use it's dialogue to explain the plot?? great story everyone has lost their ability to speak. the hero is a man trying to survive in post war europe. he escapes a gang in a homemade plane and finds a doctor hiding a "secret" then he helps him fight off a "brute" played well by jean reno. the movie even has raining fish. how could you not like that ? this movie gives us a peek at luc besson's talent. before la femme nikita, and leon watch this with an open mind I would like to see someone pitch this idea to hollywood and see what would happen today

Shot in black and white, this Luc Besson's early film is quite artful. Here we have an interesting flick with a post-apocalyptic setting which centers around the primeival struggle for survival. A unique thing about it is a deliberate deprivation of any dialogue what's so ever. Besson turns this aspect into the film's advantage, thanks to his own skills and the talents of the cast. I still wouldn't call it mindblowing, but it's definitely a well done movie that's worth seeing.

Shot entirely in black and white and set in a barely inhabited post- apocalyptic world where the atmosphere has rendered humanity mute, Luc Besson's feature length début was nothing short of ambitious. The plot ostensibly follows The Man as he scavenges for parts to keep his light aircraft in repair - venturing out into the wasteland he stumbles across a hospital where he meets The Doctor, a man living in fear of The Brute (played by Jean Reno) who is attempting to gain entry to the hospital and kill the Doctor. Through non-verbal communication, The Man and The Doctor come to help each other in an attempt to survive and keep The Brute at bay. Despite the innovative premise and stark, stylish beauty of Besson's direction, the film moves at an odd pace whereby it's more confusion and intrigue that keeps the viewer watching, rather than for any substance of character or story. The daring decision to have next to no intelligible dialogue throughout doesn't help matters, as the viewer is left to piece together the characters motives without explanation, but it's the score (the epitome of awful 80's synth soundtracks) more than anything else that dates the film and hindered this viewers enjoyment. While still worth checking out for any fans of Besson, the post-apocalyptic genre and cinema in general, it's not the easiest of films to watch, but one that rewards the viewer in spades through Besson's fantastic direction.

Not exactly. This is a most unusual film. Shot in widescreen and black and white, with Dolby stereo and only one whispered bit of dialogue. The world is in ruins, and our main character (credited as "The Man"), makes his escape from a band of looters by stealing their prized possession, a fully charged automobile battery, and uses it to power his ultra-light plane out of the ruins of the city.

In his travels, he comes across a doctor, with whom he communicates non-verbally (apparently, the atmosphere is so polluted, the human race is rendered mute), and confronts another man, a clumsy, self-styled "barbarian of the wastelands" who wields a sword as if it were a broom.

One of Luc Besson's early works, it is as original as it is imaginative. I had the fortune of seeing it on a wide motion picture screen in New York City. I still haven't forgotten it. Yes, I know that the end of the world makes for a strange concept for an art film from France, but Besson makes this unlikely premise work to perfection.

Highly recommended.