Omega Man
A 70’s reimagining of The Last Man by Mary Shelly.
The plot follows Robert Nellvile, an immunology doctor from “the war”, who is immune to a plague that converts people into cape wearing light fearing cult members. He spends his days reminiscing about the good ol’ days and lifting new cars out of abandoned luxury car dealerships. He spends his nights playing chess with a bust of Ceaser and warding off the night-dweller’s fireballs. We learn that the leader of the night dwellers is Mathias, a man who provides pride and direction for all those infected. Nellvile eventually gets captured by the night dwellers and a “crucifixion” is attempted. He is saved by a young black woman and her bomb-making friend. The small clan they are apart of are in constant fear of turning into night dwellers because they too have the plague, but are simply warding off the effects of it. Nellvile must try to save a young boy who is about to turn by using his disease resistant blood as a direct vaccine. The young boy, once better, is confused at why Nelville doesn’t use his blood to cure Mathias’s group. He offers their hideout in a moral ultimatum, “Kill ‘em or cure ‘em”. Nellvile refuses to do either. The young boy goes behind Nelvilles back and proposes the cure to Mathias, who murders him. Meanwhile the black girlfriend turns into a night dweller, immediately assimilating into Mathias’s group. Nellvile goes back attempting to save the young boy and his girlfriend. He dies a martyr, with obvious Jesus crucifixion iconography.
Two themes popped out at me while watching this film: Jesus as a martyr, and the natural rise of racial tension. A few things cued me to these conclusions. Mathias’s religious looking set up, with candles, pews, and chanting were heavy handed in the depiction of a church and its leader. Compared to the moral righteousness of Nellvile, Mathias looked down right pagan. There was also heavy handed iconography in the last shot, with Nellvile dying with his arms spread on the fountain after handing the rest of his blood to the human clan. He gave them his blood so that they may live. Plugging in all the variables, you have a man dying a martyr to save people from paganism. Also is the young boy acting as a traitor, wanting
Then there is the racial tension. Maybe they chose a young black girl in the female lead to sell more tickets. I doubt it. They were telling us that in a world where all social structure collapsed, a black woman and a white man could be together. They even said that. Outloud. The story even does a bit of exposition as well. There was a new racism that started out of the plague, the night dwellers and the humans. Nelville was lynched when he was captured. He was wearing a KKK hat and everything. There was a bit of reverse symbolism there, of course. He was a white man, so it was easier to put in a racist symbol rather than to depict him as a black man. The racist overtones were also portrayed when Mathias explained himself. Nellvile was hated not because of a particular atrocity, but because he was different from everyone else. The night dwellers did not see themselves as diseased, but internalized their affliction as their identity, allowing for the them to classify themselves as different from other humans.
Although these things didn’t pop out at me immediately. Nellvile was watching a movie called “woodstock” in the beginning. He was talking along with the movie, highlighting different quotes about equality and love for mankind. That led me to believe that the movie would be about appreciating society as it is, because the fall of society is just around the corner. Moments later he flashes back to bombings and horrific news clips from the war. I later thought that this section was about understanding the complexity of society and highlighting the sparseness of the current world. I still don’t understand what it was trying to tell me.
I didn’t like how the movie bordered on zombism but didn’t go all the way. Dawn of the Dead arose in 1978, 7 years later. Perhaps George Romano saw the possibilities of this movie and decided to go full zombie with it.
Overall a movie that is more complicated than it lets on. It didn’t end with a bang, but it was more interested in telling its story than guiding the viewers’ experience.
A 70’s reimagining of The Last Man by Mary Shelly.
The plot follows Robert Nellvile, an immunology doctor from “the war”, who is immune to a plague that converts people into cape wearing light fearing cult members. He spends his days reminiscing about the good ol’ days and lifting new cars out of abandoned luxury car dealerships. He spends his nights playing chess with a bust of Ceaser and warding off the night-dweller’s fireballs. We learn that the leader of the night dwellers is Mathias, a man who provides pride and direction for all those infected. Nellvile eventually gets captured by the night dwellers and a “crucifixion” is attempted. He is saved by a young black woman and her bomb-making friend. The small clan they are apart of are in constant fear of turning into night dwellers because they too have the plague, but are simply warding off the effects of it. Nellvile must try to save a young boy who is about to turn by using his disease resistant blood as a direct vaccine. The young boy, once better, is confused at why Nelville doesn’t use his blood to cure Mathias’s group. He offers their hideout in a moral ultimatum, “Kill ‘em or cure ‘em”. Nellvile refuses to do either. The young boy goes behind Nelvilles back and proposes the cure to Mathias, who murders him. Meanwhile the black girlfriend turns into a night dweller, immediately assimilating into Mathias’s group. Nellvile goes back attempting to save the young boy and his girlfriend. He dies a martyr, with obvious Jesus crucifixion iconography.
Two themes popped out at me while watching this film: Jesus as a martyr, and the natural rise of racial tension. A few things cued me to these conclusions. Mathias’s religious looking set up, with candles, pews, and chanting were heavy handed in the depiction of a church and its leader. Compared to the moral righteousness of Nellvile, Mathias looked down right pagan. There was also heavy handed iconography in the last shot, with Nellvile dying with his arms spread on the fountain after handing the rest of his blood to the human clan. He gave them his blood so that they may live. Plugging in all the variables, you have a man dying a martyr to save people from paganism. Also is the young boy acting as a traitor, wanting
Then there is the racial tension. Maybe they chose a young black girl in the female lead to sell more tickets. I doubt it. They were telling us that in a world where all social structure collapsed, a black woman and a white man could be together. They even said that. Outloud. The story even does a bit of exposition as well. There was a new racism that started out of the plague, the night dwellers and the humans. Nelville was lynched when he was captured. He was wearing a KKK hat and everything. There was a bit of reverse symbolism there, of course. He was a white man, so it was easier to put in a racist symbol rather than to depict him as a black man. The racist overtones were also portrayed when Mathias explained himself. Nellvile was hated not because of a particular atrocity, but because he was different from everyone else. The night dwellers did not see themselves as diseased, but internalized their affliction as their identity, allowing for the them to classify themselves as different from other humans.
Although these things didn’t pop out at me immediately. Nellvile was watching a movie called “woodstock” in the beginning. He was talking along with the movie, highlighting different quotes about equality and love for mankind. That led me to believe that the movie would be about appreciating society as it is, because the fall of society is just around the corner. Moments later he flashes back to bombings and horrific news clips from the war. I later thought that this section was about understanding the complexity of society and highlighting the sparseness of the current world. I still don’t understand what it was trying to tell me.
I didn’t like how the movie bordered on zombism but didn’t go all the way. Dawn of the Dead arose in 1978, 7 years later. Perhaps George Romano saw the possibilities of this movie and decided to go full zombie with it.
Overall a movie that is more complicated than it lets on. It didn’t end with a bang, but it was more interested in telling its story than guiding the viewers’ experience.