Movie Review - The Man From Earth

"Piety is not what the lessons bring to the people, it's the mistake people bring to the lessons."

On a whim, I recently watched The Man From Earth (2007) on Netflix Streaming. (Speaking of which - for ~$10 a month this is such a phenominal deal - and the primary reason I don't have to spend ~$100 a month on cable)

While I'm not one to write a review of every movie I watch - this one is certainly an exception. Written by sci-fi legend Jerome Bixby, The Man From Earth is a story about an impromptu good-bye party at the almost-empty house of Professor John Oldman; which quickly turns into an interrogation about the reasons he's leaving. After plenty of goading John reveals that he is in fact a cro-magnon human who is about 14,000 years old, and never ages. Understandably, his colleagues label it as a prank; but of course an anthropologist, biologist, historian, psycologist, and the other academics couldn't let such an idea pass.

The film goes into an astounding amount of discussion involving the physical possibilities of John's condition, and probing of John's memories of his many many years and life experiences. At every question, John provides lucid and entertaining responses - constantly putting his colleagues (and the viewer) into a state where they have to seriously consider that he's in fact completely serious. I knew it was a movie, yet I found myself wanting it all to be true, because the plotline of this 14,000 year old life was so compelling.

I've often fantasized about the possibility of living in a different era - what life would be like in many different types of societies and cultures...and the film goes into quite a few of John past "lives" with a breadth and depth that is incredibly entertaining. The back-and-forth among the other characters in response to John's revelation continuously discuss and reinforces the notion that it is possible (nay, important for a truly curious mind) to investigate phenomenoa without having to believe in it first. (And this is a point that is not stressed enough in education these days!)

The film gets very emotional and touchy in the latter half, when the discussions about faith, religion and philosophy are strongest - but the film does so in such a fantastic way. By far, this was my favorite parts of the film. Ellen Crawford does a pretty decent job at portraying Edith, a christian fundamentalist who gets extremely uncomfortable and withdrawn as some incredible secrets about christinaity are revealed by John. She walks the finely woven line John unravels just enough to have her firm resolve and rejection of the idea into an almost incredulous belief that it may actually be the truth.

The film is a bit reminiscent of 12 Angry Men, given it is shot entirely in John's cabin, and the movie is focused solely on the characters and John's story. The film brilliantly uses the house as a way to break up the pace of the film, to allow for some decompression and setup of changing angles of inquiry. It also provides opportunities to focus on the characters grappling with the issue of whether to believe John or just hear him out while he's outside.

The acting in general is pretty good, David Lee Smith plays a very convincing John Oldman - and his speech is fluid, clear, and spoken with incredible sincerity and pace. If was a pleasure hearing him speak through pages and pages of script as if he truly was the person who experienced it all.

All this being said, the film has some weak points. Harry's jokes a bit dorky and lame, but actor John Billingsley does a pretty good job of saving those moments being sincere and affable while saying the lines. William Katt needs some acting lessons after witnessing his role as Art, and the ending...the ending was fan-tas-tic, but it was a bit quick and brief. It was such a fun, brilliantly written way to end the film, but the director kind of screwed the pooch in the execution. Not that is was bad...you just know if could have been a lot better.

I give this movie a 9.5/10, losing a half a point for the 2 points mentioned above, and reccomend that you SEE THIS MOVIE!

- Chris