“The Last Island” is Man’s Last Hope! Now on Blu-ray!
The horrible, mangled wreckage of a commercial plane crash on a deserted tropical island only leaves seven survives – five men and two women. Burning what’s left of the remaining passengers, salvaging through baggage, and setting forth a plan of survival until their hopefully imminent rescue, the survivors lean on each other and on hope for only temporary residence on the idyllic island. With a working radio only picking up static on every channel, a mysterious boat carrying a charred body to shore, and other clues that suggest the world may have just gone through a nuclear disaster, the possibility of never leaving the island seems very real despite their best efforts to the contrary. Fear of being the last humans on Earth takes hold and for the species to survive, the idea of procreation insidiously warps their already traumatized principles. Two women survived the crash but with one being an old woman, the younger fair of the sex becomes the object of necessity between the men of varying sexual orientation, beliefs, and ethics.
Director Marleen Gorris helms another powerfully provoking and feminist perspective, gender divisive drama, but her 1990 released third feature, “The Last Island,” is quite different from her previous two films that have established her with such labels as a feminist filmmaker and the more preposterously perception of being a man-hater. The differences are stark within the Netherland born Gorris’s penned script and directorial. Unlike “A Question of Silence” and “Broken Mirrors,” “The Last Island” isn’t casted with frequent Netherland actresses of previous collaborations with this particular film seeing more native English speakers from the U.K. and Canada. A large scale production also distances the previous handful of dressed interiors with exterior foliage, day-glow lighting, and a giant plane prop that elevate the tensions of exposition. “Amsterdamned” and “The Lift” director Dick Maas along with colleague Laurens Geels produce “The Last Island” under Maas and Geels cofounded Dutch production company First Floor Features as one of their many English-run films.
“The Last Island” had a cast that brimmed with over-spilling success having just come off acclaimed features within the last decade. Paul Freeman was the first villainous face against one of America’s most beloved archeological heroes as Belloq in “The Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Freeman pivots nearly a decade later in another strong, affluent role but as an older gay man with a taste for grooming younger men. Freeman plays the Scottish born Sean, a seemingly ally to the one child-bearing able woman on the island but his own gender is turned against him with his need to live and his need to be in power to sustain the human race. Opposite Freeman, and eyed as more of the principal character, is the lesser known Shelagh McLeod (“The Sleep of Death”) who is given a voice of reason, voice of choice, and voice of justifiable resistance against a crumbling male majority. McLeod completely stands rivaling against a formidable Freeman without the backstory of ethical waning and as the well-rounded Joanna, she finds herself in opposition of other eclectic group of men with extreme strengths and flaws. Pierre (Mark Berman, “Tom et Lola”) is a brilliant scientist but a craven coward, Nick (Kenneth Colley, “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”) has military arms training for hunting but is a bigoted, pious fanatic, Frank (Mark Hembrow, “Out of Body”) is strong and compassionate but indecisive and insecure, and Jack (Ian Tracey, “The Keeper”) is the epitome of youth but is arrogant and motivated by sex. Morris is able to turn each of the salient men seem small and insignificant beside Joanna steadfast candor. Then there’s Mrs. Godame, the seemingly most insignificant character who is actually the most complex out of them all. Age is just a number but the way Morris writes the old woman makes subtle suggestion that she might be more of a higher power than what she appears to be on the surface. One suggest is hidden in plain sight right in the old woman’s name, Godame, and if you split the syllables, God and Dame equals Woman God. “Willow’s” Patricia Hayes dons a charitable, mother-like performance providing hints of being the abstention Almighty by ending many sentences to the others with my child, knowledgeable in wisdom and in parable, trying to guide with conversation and compassion, and we’re even introduced to Mrs. Godame lying on the beach, arms stretched, and perceived from a top view as if in a crucifix position.
Religious imagery and metaphors run beyond the subtext of Mrs. Godame. The world has seemingly destroyed itself from what is suspected to be a nuclear war and thrusts a reasonable suggestion that the age of apocalypse is nigh. Man and woman are stranded on an island that’s been referenced as paradise on more than one occasion and Eden, a garden where the first man and woman lived, was known for its abundance of natural beauty and paradisal qualities. Other aspects from the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are also present, such as the forbidden (poisonous) fruit and the snake that bites one of survivors. Joanna can be said to be the forbidden fruit as well in a reversal of the theological tale where man is tempted by the forbidden fruit, tries to take a bite, and is cursed by removal innocence and bliss and replaced with sin, misery, and, eventually, death, more specifically, death of the human race. Morris blends these elements smoothly into the conspicuous concept, leaving a very few mysterious metaphors left unresolved by the natural consequence of the characters, and ending on a note of ambiguousness hopelessness because is Joanna pregnant or not – we’re neither informed by the story or Mrs. Godame herself with another imparting and inconclusive turn of phrase that bestows a classic curtain fall on the unforeseeable future of the survivors.
Cult Epics releases “The Last Island” on an AVC encoded, high-definition 1080p, BD50 presenting the new 2K transfer and restoration scan from the original 35mm print in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. An opening preface notes that the restoration done was done on the only working English-language 35mm print known available, accompanied by evident dirt and scratch imperfections. Comprehensively, the restored print is beautifully vibrant with popping tropical frondescence and a deep blue sky. Much of the imperfections come early on, during the aftermath of the crash, where faint but evident scratches are noticeable, dust specks can be visible but insubstantial, and with the only real blight being a rip-split frame that flashes a horizontal tear across the screen. Details are sharper than expected with a nice delineation in the space between, skin textures, amongst other tactile elements such as trees, the plane, and the sandy setting, don’t wash out under the brilliant sun that lights up everything, and black levels keep inky inside the naturally adequate grain. Though a Dutch production, the dialogue track is all in English with a DTS-HD 2.0 master audio. Also available is a LPCM 2.0 stereo. Even-keeled throughout the picture’s entirely, never did the levels intertwine or lose strength in what’s a satisfactory arranged overlayed soundtrack in suitable company with Boudewijn Tarenskeen’s grave dramatic score. Optional English subtitles are available. Special features include an audio commentary by film historian Peter Verstraten who returns for another Cult Epics release, an audio-less, raw footage behind-the-scenes of certain production creations such as the plane setting and certain dynamic scenes mantled with diverse song tracks, an archive interview with Politica columnist Annemarie Grewel, the original theatrical trailer, promotional still gallery, and trailers. Also include but not in special features is a Dick Mass audio-only introduction at the play film selection. The clear Blu-ray amary case sports the original composition “The Last Island” one-sheet of wrecked plane and stranded survivors. On the cover’s reverse side is a full spread of the cast in one of the more memorable, heartbreaking scenes. There is no insert included inside and the disc art has the same rendered front cover art. Clocking in at 101 minutes, this Blu-ray has region free playback and is not rated. Gorris’s eye for upending men rationales to use against them tears into the very fabric of their misguided intentions as the prospect of end of the world comes down to one, single-minded thought – to procreate when facing extinction and the only way to do that is a man’s way.
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