The Last Island (1990)

The last place for a new future

In a brilliant, modern version of the classic shipwreck tale, director Marleen Gorris manages to capture both a gay male’s and feminist perspective. After a large airliner crashes on a deserted island killing most of the passengers, two women, five men and a dog survive: an Eastern European, a Canadian lawyer, a French biologist, a prosperous Scottish financier, a young American, an extrovert Australian and a major in the British army. Hopes of rescue fade as the survivors come to realise that the world may have suffered a major disaster. They have to rely on their own resources and at first manage to live harmoniously. But gradually tensions rise after a failed attempt to escape. Intolerance threatens their very existence as one of the men begins to put himself forward as the leader of the group.