‘The End We Start From’ (2023)
Can suffering ever be beautiful? (Scene 5)
There is nothing like a good post-apocalyptic film to lift your spirits. Boy, is this a corker. Set in London and then parts of rural and coastal England it tells a taught and tension-ridden tale of survival and triumph against a biblical deluge and the danger of starving people desperate to obtain food as the supply chains become non-existent. There are shelters but they are soon overrun by hungry and violent men.
It is directed by Mahalia Belo and stars Jodie Comer, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Katherine Waterston, and Mark Strong adding strong (pun intended) support. It is adapted by Alice Birch from the novel of the same name by Megan Hunter.
Jodie Comer is the main protagonist called ‘Woman’ along with her newborn child, ‘Zeb’, and her husband called ‘R’ (Joel Fry) who flee London to find safety with R’s parents. Tragedy strikes as the mother is killed by people rioting for food and his father commits suicide.
They then seek sanctuary in a shelter as their food is gone and R cannot protect her and their child. Woman enters the shelter and R leaves. After it is overrun she escapes with another woman, ‘O’, played with almost scene-stealing dominance by Katherine Waterstone who also has a newborn child.
