We are quiet as a tomb here at work today.

Last night we watched “On The Beach” on DVD. It’s a long, sober account of the last humans left on earth after the rest of the world has been destroyed by nuclear war; Australia waits for the radiation to slowly drift across the ocean, the deadly radiation which will arrive in 5 or 6 months and finish them off too. It was very moving. There were some cliches of course, some dated moments circa 1959, but the moments of power were there too. Fred Astaire really amazed me. Every moment of pain, of stress, of loneliness etched onto that face. Anthony Perkins also had some great bits, particularly the scene in which he tries to explain the euthanasia pills to his young wife, the ones she must take and give to their baby when the radiation finally arrives. Actually, the whole cast was solid. Ava Gardner actually showed some chops, and it was heartbreaking to see Gregory Peck ALMOST-cry the way he did.

I couldn’t help but think of the present day, how a film like this would not, could not be made today. The closest we can come is some crap like “Indepdence Day.” I think it’s because our generation has always lived with nuclear weapons. We can’t fully understand what it means to live in a world where humankind can destroy everything. We can’t understand because, in our lifetimes, that’s the way it’s always been. It was different for people in 1959. It makes me sad that we today can’t comprehend the enormity of that.