There is a lot of talk about blackouts and power shortages lately, something that the cinema has already dealt with in films that posed a world or a future without electricity . So, if you want to prepare for what may come, from the comfort of your sofa, click play , these are our recommendations.
As you can see, there is something for everyone, from family comedies, to very crazy movies and, above all, a lot of apocalyptic future in which there is no way to charge the mobile.
Mad Max: Fury Road
It is not a question of playing favorites, but we start with the favorite . Mad Max: Fury Road poses a dystopian world where there is no electricity, while water and gasoline are also there.
Actually, instead of just one movie, we could talk about the entire Mad Max saga , but we chose Fury Road because George Miller, in his 70s, shows that he is fitter than 90% of action directors in Hollywood. .
The premise may sound familiar to you, a desert and punk world , devoid of electricity, renewables and fuel , but full of weapons and vehicles, fighting for the last drops of water and gasoline.
And yes, an electric guitarist comes out who keeps all the scenes in which he appears, but he can only generate energy thanks to the movement of the car, then he cannot rest watching Netflix.
Messenger from the future: the postman
In this 1997 film, we are presented with another apocalyptic future due to a nuclear war . There are isolated groups of humans and there are no laws, highways, hope, or electricity.
So, since WhatsApp cannot be sent , Kevin Costner finds an old mail truck and pretends to be a postman, taking the letters he finds to their owners.
What begins as a charade to save one’s skin, ends with Costner creating a kind of post office, defeating the bad guys and, incidentally, restoring civilization.
Almost nothing, just commenting that, as a curiosity, that future has been going on for 8 years now , in 2013.
The Flintstones
The 1994 film, with John Goodman, Rosie O’Donnell and Rick Moranis, imagines a prehistoric world, based on the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
There is no electricity, obviously, but even so, in the world of the Flintstones, there are prehistoric equivalents to modern inventions , such as the mobile phone and other gadgets, which work through a mixture of human, animal and mechanical effort.
It doesn’t seem very comfortable, but they seem quite happy.
Know that there is a whole conspiracy theory out there about the Flintstones (there are already them for everything) that would explain some things that do not add up. In addition, it would link them, in a fascinating way, with other cartoons: The Jetsons.
But that is another story…
Road
The Road , a 2009 film, is based on the great and award-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. There the story of a father and son is set in an Earth devastated by an event that is not revealed.
Our way of life as we know it has disappeared, so forget about electricity and everything in general.
The few remaining humans roam the ruins searching for something to eat, wear, and generally anything that will allow them to survive a little longer.
Oh, and better stay away from others , for what may happen.
Planet of the Apes
Let’s go with the first of the two classics on this list, because we are referring to the 1968 film , which opened its own saga already then.
In it, Charlton Heston and his fellow astronauts land in a world dominated by monkeys, where humans are uncivilized slaves. Quite an excuse for Heston to go through the movie without a shirt.
Although the apes have scientists, they do not seem to have very advanced discoveries . They have firearms, yes, but there seems to be no sign of electricity in the world.
We imagine that you know what the final revelation is, but we won’t tell you just in case you haven’t had time to find out after more than half a century… Who are we kidding, we’ll bust it for you in the video above.
Finch
In this newly released Apple TV + movie, Tom Hanks is an engineer in a world devastated by a solar flare.
Just so you have it in mind, this is one of the phenomena that, in reality, could leave us without electricity at a stroke , disable any minimally advanced device and send us back to the Middle Ages.
In Finch, the flare goes further in its destruction and charges almost everything. Hanks has electricity, thanks to huge turbines in his bunker, but the rest of the world …
The protagonist takes advantage of his situation to create a robot that will take care of his dog when he is gone and the film is, more or less, a futuristic version of Castaway , but with a robotic Wilson .
HG Wells’s time machine
We are talking about the 1960 version, starring Rod Taylor and based on the original book by HG Wells, written in 1895. It is true that there is another more modern version of 2002 with Guy Pierce, but it does not have the same old flavor or left the same mark on popular culture.
In the film, the traveler (named Wells), tests his time machine, reaches the “future” of 1966 and, there, he meets an old friend. During their conversation, a siren sounds warning that a nuclear satellite is approaching.
Wells escapes no less than 802701 , because he is trapped on a mountain during his journey and has to keep moving into the future until it erodes.
The world he encounters is very different, with humans from the surface, the Eloi , and humans who stayed underground and have evolved to live in darkness, the Morlocks .
The Eloi seem to live in an almost prehistoric state, although they don’t seem too unhappy that I can’t interrupt their cell phone all the time. The only small detail is that the Morlocks use the Eloi as appetizers , but not everything could be perfect.
Knowing
We save the craziest thing for last. Knowing is a 2009 film directed by Alex Proyas ( The Raven, Dark City ). But above all, it stars Nicolas Cage in one of his delusional roles . Or rather, in one of his plain roles, which we love.
The premise stems from a girl who, in the 50s, prophesied events that have always happened, something that only Nicolas Cage realizes. One of those predictions is the arrival of another solar flare that will sweep everything away.
The film is the typical nonsense with Cage at the head that we love, but, above all, there is the final fireworks.
Faced with the destruction of the world, a kind of angelic aliens take Nicolas Cage and his co-star, Rose Byrne, to a paradise planet that is, almost literally, Eden . In fact, the metaphor is so unsubtle that there is even a tree like that of good and evil, towards which the protagonists go.
They are the last hope of the species and, the point is not that a future without electricity awaits the human race, the point is that the entire human race will descend from Nicolas Cage . Because obviously he and his partner are the new Adam and Eve.
So now you know, if you want to train for what’s next, take advantage of these movies before the screen suddenly turns off.