Here Alone : A prepper discussion

After doing articles on how a popular TV show and a well know movie portrayed preppers. I want to discuss about a film that was made outside of Hollywood.

Previous Articles

• Fear the Walking Dead : A prepper Discussion
• 10 Cloverfield Lane : A prepper discussion

Spoilers Ahead : You have been warned.

Here Alone (2016) is probably not a film you have seen. It was made by independent film makers and had a limited release in the USA. The film was filmed in only 23 days and mostly in one location. There are minimum special effects and probably a close to nothing budget. But, I will say, it wasn't poor quality, just not blockbuster quality.

You can watch it on Netflix, which is where I watched it, since Netflix loves providing independent films on their streaming service more than a full set of a film.

Why can't I get Kung Fu Panda 2, but I can watch 1 and 3?

Anyway, Here Alone popped up on my suggestion list because of something else I watched. There isn't a "apocalyptic prepper" movie genre on Netflix. It had more than three stars, which isn't saying much on Netflix, because it wouldn't take much for an independent film to get 5 stars. However, it didn't have 1 star, so I thought I would give it a try.

The movie does a lot of flashbacks to reveal how the female protagonist ended up in the woods alone. It takes a while to get the full story, but basically, she and her husband worked in a hospital. They had seen signs of a mysterious disease that was making people sick, initially with spots on their stomach and then they would go crazy. This is basically like a zombie outbreak, but from what we learn, the people are still alive, they just like to eat other humans. And the disease is transmittable through fluid or is possibly air borne.

The Bug Out

As mentioned, the protagonist and her husband are keen as to what is happening. They are not prepared to outlast whatever is going on, so they pack up what they can and get out of town. From what we can tell, Ann and Jason have not been a couple for a long time and an unexpected pregnancy has brought them together as a family. What we do find out, is that Jason grew up in a rural area, where he hunted and camped as a child. This is where they are headed to, but along the way they have to stop for supplies. Getting supplies means they have to risk entering populated areas. The risk is expanded because the couple has an infant with them, which means only one adult can go in and get supplies, while the other stays back and guards the baby from the infected. And of course, to top things off, the infected are attracted to noises and the smell of the healthy.

During one of these night-time foraging expeditions, which wasn't their first and some how Ann and Jason figured out that the infected are attracted to the smell of healthy humans, they try to mask Jason's scent. Unfortunately, something goes wrong and Jason is attacked, but he makes it back to their camp before dying. This allows Ann to get the lone weapon they have, a .22 bolt-action rifle.

While Ann and Jason had to bug out because they didn't have the resources to stay, this goes to a basic worry for all preppers. If all of their preps are in one location and something so catastrophic happens that you can no longer stay at your location, what do you do? Do you have a bug out plant for your bug out location? How long would it take you to get your needed items together so that you can GOOD (Get Out of Dodge)?

Knowledge Sharing

We aren't given an actual timeline for how long Ann and Jason were on The Road, but we can assume that it was long enough for several foraging expeditions and long enough for Jason to teach Ann everything he knew about hunting and surviving in the wilderness.

The major issue with Jason's knowledge sharing is that he is doing it off of his head and as the thoughts come up. While he is spouting off his words of wisdom, Ann is trying to quickly write down notes in a book. It was lucky that Ann picked up a book and found a pencil, but it would have been more useful for Jason and Ann, if they had found an empty notebook.

As mentioned, they haven't been a couple for a very long time, but they also could have tried to spend some time together so that Jason could demonstrate things and Ann could try them out and learn before TEOTWAWKI happened. Jason does teach Ann the fundamentals of shooting a .22 bolt-action rifle. A skill that comes in handy later in the movie. But, the lesson on how to create a trap probably could have been a bit better. Instead of just telling her how to build one, he should have shown her how to build one. I would think that they probably needed the trap anyway, to get some fresh food.

Another option is that Jason could have bought books on hunting or bushcraft and had them ready to go, so that Ann would have a reference guide when Jason wasn't around.

Frankly, the rushing of the knowledge transfer seemed to be a bit too much and probably just poor writing. I would think, that if they were that desperate to get supplies, there would still have been time to teach Ann more fundamentals before attempting the foraging expedition.

The Camp

Ann makes it to a location that seems deep in the woods. It must have been a location that Jason said he was going to take him, because their is a lake nearby. Part of the lesson that Jason gave to Ann or Ann figured out herself, was the need for two camps. She explains later, that she has two camps in case she loses one of them.

The first camp is the car that they drove. Ann has covered the car with leaves, mud and sticks. It is an okay method of hiding the car, but she probably could have added more sticks and built a shelter around the car. She uses the car to sleep in and the trunk for storage. The car has gas in it and she checks it to make sure the battery is still working. Or, maybe as a thought about leaving. The car camp is on a road that is no longer used, but enough of one that Ann could get the car back on an actual paved road. By using this untraveled road, Ann has basically covered her tracks from the main road. She probably should have found a spot just slightly off of that road and camouflaged her car even more to be complete concealed. But, she was probably thinking about a quick escape if needed. Also, sleeping in the car provides extra shelter from the elements and the infected.

The second camp is near the lake and is basically a fire pit with a log for sitting on it. We later find that Ann has a tent and extra sleeping bags, which she could store at the lake camp, but she doesn't. That seems like a bit of a misstep on her part. If she is going to set up two camps, then she should supply both of them. She doesn't know if she can get the gear out of her car and head to the other site.

Also, it could just be limitation on shooting, but it doesn't seem as if the lake site is very far from the car site. There is a large open field that she goes to, which she tunes in a French Canadian radio station. So, it could be assumed that the lake and the car locations are separated by the field. This would probably ideal, if not slightly dangerous to go to an open field if you didn't want to be seen.

Having the lake for fishing is a great plan. Having the gear to fish in that lake, would have been a better plan.

The Downfall

Now, I don't want to give Ann too hard of a time on the story turn. It would be hard for a non-prepper, forced to be a survivalist to know all the rules. But, she has been alone for a period of time since her husband died and then an unfortunate incident happened where she ended up getting her baby infected. Being out alone for over a year would make anyone long for human companionship. But, I think I would have let these people fall to their own devices.

Ann has returned from scavenging. She has figured out how to make the right scent killing cover to avoid the infected. She knows how to lure the infected off to another area with noise and the use of her own blood. She even knows how to stitch herself up when she has an accident. Ann is a survivor.

She comes out of the woods from a honey hole that she is working on to find two people in the road. A man, laying on the road and a young girl trying to wake him up. There is nothing around. DANGER! She checks them out for infection (red spots on the torso) and then takes them back to her car camp. She sets up the tent for them and slowly they become part of her camp.

Frankly, if I found two people who had nothing on them, no food, no water, no gear, I would think it was a trap. And even if it wasn't a trap, I would avoid them, because somehow, they managed to survive for the past year on 'The Road' without even a change of clothes. This is all signs of trouble. Human interaction be damned!

The script writing helps bring about the image that these people are just there to rip off Ann or worse, but finally they say it is all about them wanting to take her with them to the north, where they think they'll find safety. There is no reason to believe that the north will be any better than the places they had seen on The Road, but with Ann's French radio broadcast, they think there might be a chance. Ann wants them to stay with her. She's made a place and maybe with a little help from these two strangers, she can build more.

Well, as things go along, we find out that the young girl has a crush on the man who was to be her step-father. The man had to kill his infected girlfriend and headed down the road with her daughter. Ann, being lonely, and the man being unscrupulous, puts the moves on Ann and it makes the young girl jealous. Olivia, the young girl, eats all the food in a teenage fit of jealously.

Since they need more food for 'The Road', they go back to the honey hole that Ann scouted out. Chris, the man, acts as bate to lead off the infected while Ann and Olivia check the house for supplies. Olivia knocks out Ann and leaves. Ann wakes up, just in time to hide from the infected and then heads back to camp after Chris and Olivia. When Ann gets to the car camp, all of Olivia's noise making and not hiding her scent, leads the infected there. Ann returns just in time to make the choice between saving Olivia or saving Chris.

And, that's why you are careful about who you let into your camp. Olivia and Chris were lucky to be still alive. They had no skills, they were takers. Ann loses her camp and drives away with Olivia, who now has to live with the fact that her actions got Chris killed and she tried to kill Ann. I don't know why Ann would want her around, she is still a liability.

But, the high point of this movie is that it does show that the prepper/survivalist as the good person and the unprepared as those who end up destroying everything. It could have been a little better of a movie, but not bad for a low budget independent film.

Let me know your thoughts.
Let me know any movies you think I should discuss.

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Let the positive energy sing!

More Power to the Minnows!!