Some Spoiler Free thoughts on "The Man From Earth"
Originally published at Sean Reiser. You can comment here or there.
Very rarely do I say this but I've found a film you must see, Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth
. I came across the film innocently enough, it was being discussed with William Katt on the Slice of Sci Fi so I acquired myself a copy and sat down this evening to watch it. I was surprised by what I found ... simply the best hour and a half of sci-fi I've seen put to film. Without giving too much away the premise is simple, a college professor, John Oldman, who appears to be in his mid-30s, is leaving his tenured position at a college. His colleagues gather at his home to discuss why he's leaving and his future plans. He reveals to them that he's a 14,000 year old Cro-Magnon man. The film is centered around these academics trying to disprove that assertion. The film discusses fantasy, faith, myth and morality.
Let me start by saying this isn't some explosion filled, mansquito filled space opera. There's not a space ship, laser gun or time travel device in sight. Like all good drama, it's much simpler yet much more complex. And it's all driven by one question. Is this possible? Before the SciFi channel gave up on being SciFi the heart of their ad campaigns was "What If?", because that is the heart of all good science fiction, the one question, "What If?".
In many respects it's structured more like a play then a film. It's a small cast, as the story goes on, the set gets claustrophobic. Much like "12 Angry Men" or "Glenn Gary Glenn Ross" the interaction of the characters drive the film which is what makes this special. I would highly recommend watching it.