In The End, the earth is finally (mostly) unliveable, and our main characters- a wealthy family of three and a handful of people who work for them- have continued their lives in a bunker in a salt mine. The adult son of this family (George MacKay) has spent his whole life in this bunker learning history from the perspective of his father, the former head of a top energy company (Michael Shannon), and his mother, an artist obsessing over what used to be (Tilda Swinton). The son’s worldview is only upset when a woman (Moses Ingram) finds her way into the bunker for shelter and challenges everything he believed about the outside world.
I really enjoyed The End, and not just because I enjoy musicals. Although this film is different from the musicals I’m used to. I’ve seen it described as ‘sombre’- there are no flashy dance numbers or pops of colour. Instead, the music carries the traits of the story and characters it comes from; sometimes curious, sometimes angsty, and sometimes with this sense of holding on to a brightness we all know is not there.
But I loved The End because of its ‘in-your-face’ allegory. The world has been destroyed because of the effects of the actions taken by the father’s company, but he tells it differently; to ‘protect’ the son, the parents fill his mind with untruths; the son has spent his whole life in a bunker under the earth but functions like an expert on a lot of topics because he read about them; and all the main characters in some way choose to ignore certain things so they can maintain their comfortable life.
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, The End is a sometimes humorous, sometimes aggravating and sometimes sweet look at how easy it is to be complacent when you feel like your very survival is at stake.
The End is playing at TIFF ’24. For more information, click here.
