The Man From Earth
**This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A coworker recommended this film to me, and I’m so glad that he did. This is a film that approaches ideas like life, death and faith with a questioning mind, and a desire to learn. When the implications get too great, however, the main character suddenly pulls back. Still, at least one person still believes. Is that a good thing, or something that will cause issues in the future? This is the type of science fiction and philosophical film I love, one that approaches its ideas with a sense of looking for the truth rather than hitting us over the head with it. That type of certainty makes the answers less interesting, not more.
The screenplay, by Jerome Bixby, was allegedly dictated by the writer on his death bed, almost a decade before the film was released. A writer known for episodes of “Star Trek” and “The Twilight Zone,” as well as “Fantastic Voyage,” in this story, he imagines a man who has lived for 14,000 years. He can get injured, and get sick, but ultimately, his body regenerates, and he doesn’t age. One day, he gets a group of his friends and colleagues at his recent position together as he’s ready to move on. He only stays in one place for about 10 years before moving on to another life, more acquaintances. The people whom he’s gathered this time look at him like he’s crazy, but the more he says, the more they think, maybe he’s telling the truth.
John Oldman (David Lee Smith) is a great storyteller. As he tells his story to those he has gathered (including Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson, William Katt, Alexis Thorpe and Richard Riehle), they try and poke holes in it, implying that much of what he’s said could simply have been read and studied in books. As the gathering progresses, however, the details get clearer and clearer- this is more than just book learning; his voice, his conviction, and his thoughtfulness, makes them start to believe. And as much as they are fascinated by it, it’s also frightening, especially when the line of questioning deals with more theological concerns.
Richard Schenkman’s film is a very straightforward chamber ensemble production, no doubt out of the necessity of cost, but it ultimately works beautifully because of that. I would imagine that this could be a fascinating TV series, following John throughout the years and time periods, but the structure leaves the story in the hands of John, and ours- and the character’s- ability to take a leap of faith with him as he tells it. Yes, that makes it dialogue-dependent, but Bixby’s characters are compelling enough to carry it, especially Peterson’s Sandy- a student curious to learn- and Riehle’s Will, a psychiatrist who comes in late, but has valid questions for John about how he’s able to live for so long. Their moments might be among the most impactful of the film, especially when Will realizes something that none of the others do about John.
“The Man from Earth” feels like the work of a filmmaker learning his craft as a film, but because he was given a great narrative by a writer who understood the philosophical nature of genre, he understood- even at the end- why some people just are not ready to face remarkable truths. It’s always interesting how some genre stories just work better when they’re focused less on blowing us away visually, and more with engaging our minds. There is value there we, as a species, can learn from, whether we’re ready to hear it or not.
