Homo Sapiens is a film about the finiteness and fragility of human existence and the end of the industrial age, and what it means to be a human being. What will remain of our lives after we're gone? Empty spaces, ruins, cities increasingly overgrown with vegetation, crumbling asphalt: the areas we currently inhabit, though humanity has disappeared. Now abandoned and decaying, gradually reclaimed by nature after being taken from it so long ago. Homo Sapiens is an ode to humanity as seen from a possible future scenario.
One might argue that 20 minutes or so is enough, but what Homo Sapiens offers in its succession of carefully framed shots is sometimes too tantalizing to resist.
Geyrhalter has created one of the most powerful cinematic wake up calls since Charlton Heston stood and cried out at the Statue of Liberty. Here, there are not even apes.
Geyrhalter piques the imagination with images of decay: towns, malls, theaters, and hospitals, all deserted, unnamed, and overrun by foliage and wildlife.
