Moviedom has unleashed floods, fires, explosions and and pestilence on the audiences for decades. But only a handful of flicks show the end times with any consideration for how it might really go down.
The list of 5 films below focuses on movies that seriously grapple with environmental collapse and the consequences. We’ve bypassed the fanciful popcorn fare, like “Zombieland,” “This is the End” and “2012,” and instead focused on films that thoughtfully explored the topics without the hollow CGI spectacle.
Culprit: Nuclear War
Aired on BBC in 1984, Threads depicts the nuclear missile strike on the English town of Sheffield in a docudrama style as dry as movie’s fire-scorched cityscapes. The producers of this Cold War nightmare fuel thoroughly researched the possible outcomes of a nuclear war, and the homework shows in every scene. There are crowded emergency rooms filled with casualties screaming in agony. Victims of radiation sickness lying in burnt out buildings teeming with rats. A lone child calling for his mom amid piles of shattered buildings. A solemn narrator occasionally interjects with gems like, “By this time, without drugs, water or bandages, without electricity or medical support facilities, there is no way a doctor can virtually execute his skill as a source of help or comfort, he is little better equipped than the nearest survivor. “
Gut punch scene: Blighted fields lashed by frost from a nuclear winter.
Culprit: Asteroid strike/Nuclear Winter
Permanent winter holds the earth in an icy grip. Like its novelistic source material, the 2009 film doesn’t reveal the cause of the calamity; the focus instead is the day-to-day plight of a father -son-survivors, who scrounge for canned food when they’re not escaping the clutches of roving cannibals. The dad encourages his son to “carry the fire,” meaning try to live by a moral code, but that ain’t so easy. The film’s ambiguous ending might leave viewers with a spark of hope for humanity — or a pang of utter despair at humankind’s grim prospects.
Gut punch scene: A basement that’s used as a holding pen for soon-to-be victims of cannibals.
Culprit: Infertility
A mysterious environmental catastrophe has rendered all females on earth infertile, sending whole societies into downward spirals of chaos. While the premise may seem bonkers, the 2004 film’s exploration of the social ills that accompany such a cultural shock — global economic and social collapse, triggering a staggering refugee crisis — resonates with today’s political ailments. The gun battle between political factions in a refugee camp forms the film’s bloody, desperate climax, complete with a tense long take that helped put director Alfonso Cuoron on the map.
Gut Punch scene: An ambush on country road by a violent mob.
Culprit: Overpopulation
Based on the book, Make Room!, Make Room, this 1973 film imagines a future New York City that’s choked with overpopulation and ravaged by pollution. Food is scarce; only the bland, synthetic bars manufactured by the Soylent Corporation keep people from starving. When detective Frank Thom (played by Charleston Heston) investigates the murder of one a Soylent executive, he uncovers the shocking truth behind the company’s product.
Gut punch scene: When Thom discovers the source of Soylent green — one of the most famous scenes in sci-fi movie history.
Culprit: Drought, chemical pollution, radiation, you name it
In the latest installment of the Mad Max series, warlords wield unbreakable power over an arid wasteland. Those who defy the despots face gangs of violent minions driving souped-up battle vehicles. But when a once trusted driver rescues the harem of water-hoarding honcho named Immortan Joe, the iron grip of the thugs begins to falter. The most violent entry into the Mad Max series explores the intersection between ecological degradation and the subjugation of women. Don’t let the over-the-top stunts and outlandish vehicles fool you; this movie depicts a dry earth that could be all too real.
Gut punch scene: When ace driver Imperator Furiosa comes to realize there is no “green place” — a fabled verdant refuge.