The Last River

Description

The year is 2055. Adverse climate change has produced a global drought that has lasted 25 years. The UK government were the first to initiate Food rationing and later the controversial MOLOK Law, a policy that prohibits human reproduction to reduce the strain on scarce resources. 15 years into the program civil unrest continues as poverty increases creating a near apocalyptic environment. Molok officers track down units born after 2040 known as Black Sunday.

John Tyler is one of these dedicated agents and a father to a daughter that hates him for what he does. She leaves home after an argument and is not heard from again. John regrets the situation and begins to soften against his staunch beliefs in Molok Law. He attempts to redeem himself by letting captured units escape. In one village raid he finds himself across the last river that is polluted and extremely hazardous. He see’s a young woman trying to escape across the river with her baby floating in a container. The woman is John’s daughter. The film ends on a desperate, yet open scene with John attempting to reach out and capture the container and which point it begins to rain.

Biblical Connection

The Last River is inspired by the story of the Mosses Basket from Exodus 2:1-10. I have taken the elements of the killing of the Hebrew children to control population and brought that into our world, albeit a future version of it. I was interested in the part of the Pharaoh’s daughter who takes the Moses child into care despite her father’s ruling on the Hebrew children. The story speaks of survival, and redemption and is ever relevant regarding population and oppression in modern history and even today. I was also interested in the soldier’s point of view that enforce the Pharaoh’s law. In some ways I have created a character that is based on the soldier and the Pharaoh’s daughter that creates a conflict of interest. The river (Nile) is an important part of the story, as in the original it represents death by drowning the Hebrew children. It still does represent death because in my story it is polluted and toxic. This also raises the stakes at the end of the film with the child floating on the dangerous waters with a desperate mother trying to save her son, that’s helped by a surprising figure of oppression.