DIRECTED BY: Stephen Fingleton
STARRING: Martin McCann, Mia Goth, Olwen Fouere, Andrew Simpson and Douglas Russell
SYNOPSIS
In a time of starvation, a survivalist lives off a small plot of land hidden deep in forest. When two women seeking food and shelter discover his farm, he finds his existence threatened.
In a post-apocalyptic future, oil has run out and this leads to the human race steadily declining to nothingness as mankind falls and nature goes to take back its natural form as humans become strangers and dangerous to themselves, trying to survive in this new world. We follow a nameless man out in his forest refuge when he encounters two women, an old woman and her teenage daughter, seeking refuge themselves and strike a bargain with him. Suspicion and questionable deceit come into play as an uneasy alliance is formed, putting the man’s quiet world into dangerous territory.
The Survivalist is a low-budget, post-apocalyptic, Northern Irish film brought to us by Stephen Fingleton, making his directorial feature debut on a screenplay that he has also written on a rather modest budget of £1m in the outdoors of Ballymoney. We’re notified from the get go from the films opening graphic of what seems to be an endless rise in the world population alongside the rise of oil production, though shows the never ending decline and fall of mankind as a whole as its most dependent resource runs out.
BAFTA were definitely impressed with Fingleton’s debut feature here, such much so that he earned himself a nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer and it’s clear to see why as The Survivalist is pretty damn impressive, probably the most impressive debut I’ve seen in a while. It’s a grim tale told more in the vein of The Road (if you were to look for similarities) of how bleak the future would be in the fall of society as we know it, yet the Earth is still moving and nature has never looked so good as mankind rots away, captured beautifully by cinematographer Damien Elliott. It doesn’t hold back on how bleak things are, as the three main characters we follow through this journey don’t even offer a grin or smirk let alone a smile, there’s an exchange from their opening encounter as the mother offers to pimp out her daughter in order to get the food and shelter they so desperately need and the daughter doesn’t bat an eye like it’s become the new norm….to survive. Then there’s the small matters of self-surgery, burying bodies to help along the crops and then using maggots to eat the rotten flesh from wounds…yeah, ugh indeed. The film becomes an engaging study of trust and loyalty as can the nameless man let his guard down and let himself enjoy human connection that he’s long lost or are the mother and daughter genuine in the motives or are they playing the long con to screw him out of his small patch of land for his crops? Martin McCann has always been in my eyes a commanding presence (most prolific role would probably be in The Pacific as R.V. Burgin and his last role I seen from him would’ve few years ago in the Derry film Jump) and once again provides it in spades here, with the minimum amount of dialogue, whose facial expressions express more fear and agony then a few quips of dialogue ever could. Mia Goth (Last seen in Everest as the daughter of Josh Brolin’s character) was also impressive as Milja, carrying an innocent yet hardened vulnerability about her as she’s the knot of the trio’s relationship, bringing with it a few moral dilemmas with it and Olwen Fouere is also really good as the mother Kathryn, hardened by the fall of mankind and looking to do whatever it takes for her and her daughter to survive. The films standout scene is a tension filled chase and stilled silence with an impressive crane shot over a field of long grass.
For the films low budget and use of dialogue kept to a minimum, this way prove to be a problem for some film viewers with the films slow pace and the film does take a while for interaction to come into play as we spend almost a third of the film following the routine of the nameless man out in his forest refuge.
VERDICT
One of the most impressive debuts I’ve seen in a while. The Survivalist plays into familiar territory of post-apocalyptic setting, yet is engaging in its own right thankfully thriving on not knowing the true cause and effect of the fall of society, focusing on the uneasy alliance between three characters that provide really good performances from the cast. This is definitely a footprint of greater things to come for Stephen Fingleton. 8/10
Irish Cinephile 