Some say the world will end in fire, some in ice, so begins a poem by Robert Frost. Frost’s poem may have many layers, but it doesn’t address the question about what happens after the world comes to a literal end. The movies certainly do. There are movies have used both these destructive forces to effect in the past. And, the apocalyptic and post apocalyptic film continues to be a popular genre. In the next couple of months alone, three big films with big name stars are being released. Bruce Willis is front and center in The Surrogates, Woody Harrelson leads a pack of survivors in Zombieland only to find himself in 2012 joining forces at the world’s end with John Cusack and Danny Glover. Do you need to steel yourself against these upcoming films? The library has some earlier and recent films that help us face … the end.
An early film to portray aliens coming to warn us naive humans about the end of the earth is The Day the Earth Stood Still. Danny Boyle takes the Zombie film to a whole new level with 28 Days Later but lets a different director tell us what happens 28 Weeks After. Apes rule in Planet of the Apes and all its many sequels. The devastation of nuclear war is forewarned in the classic On The Beach. And only certain women can become mothers after the ravages of war in The Handmaid’s Tale. And of course, Mad Max is the ultimate anti-hero and Will Smith is “the man” in I am Legend. For these and many others stop by the Westport Library Audio Visual collection.
