The movie synthesizes exceptional cinematography, awe-inspiring music, and poetic narration to create a very compelling and captivating audiovisual experience. A clear allegory for climate change, it moves us to think about existential questions of what it means to be alive, how we deal with death, the meaning of time and space and how we connect with each other. Away from idealized utopias or catastrophizing, it presents a rather plausible pathway for humanity's development, emphasizing the precariousness of human life, a rather dreadful realization humanity has dealt with for millenia. This artwork is philosophically rich, drawing from various themes and schools of thoughts from Plato's Republic to sci-fi theories of time travel. Despite a clear opportunity to do so, the movie seems to take a rather blunt stance politically, refusing to make any commentary as to how societal institutions are the ones determining our relationship with and impact on the planet, adopting a more vague "anti-human" rhetoric of deep ecology with "humanity is the virus" themes. Though not necessarily to its detriment, as this reflects my personal preferences for more politically explicit films, I expected Johanson to pursue a more clear critique of modern society instead of vaguely condemning modernity as a whole. Overall a very engaging and provocative work of art that pushes us to ponder on big existential questions.
Review of Last and First Men
