The End We Start From review: motherhood during a climate disaster

The End We Start From is a tense tale of motherhood and survival during a climate catastrophe that floods England and makes the entire country’s population into climate refugees.

The End We Start From stars Jodie Comer. There’s nothing this actress cannot do. She’s in every scene of this film and performs with mastery and emotional intelligence.

The film begins with Mother (Jodie Comer) heavily pregnant and alone in her home. Rain falls unceasingly outside. Soon it’s coming into her house under the doors and through the windows. And she’s in labor.

She manages to get to the hospital in an ambulance, but the hospital and everything else in London is under evacuation orders. Her husband R (Joel Fry) has a safe place where they can go. R’s parents live on higher ground away from the city. They are G (Nina Sosanya) and N (Mark Strong).

For a while they are safe with R’s parents. They have food. The baby is thriving and loved. When the food runs out there are new catastrophes on top of the existing problem. Mother and R take the baby and find a shelter. It’s crowded. Food is scarce. Danger is everywhere.

While at the shelter, Mother befriends O (Katherine Waterston). R can’t cope with the situation. I thought Joel Fry was miscast as R, but he did a good job at being too weak to deal with what was happening. He left.

O knows about a commune on an island where women with children can be safe. Mother and O leave together to find it. Along the way they spend an evening and share a meal with AB (Benedict Cumberbatch).

I’ve mentioned several actors who appeared in small parts. Nobody even has a name. Jodie Comer IS the film.

Again there’s a period of safety after the women reach the commune. Mother cannot shake her memories of R and of her love for him. She hallucinates him everywhere. Her baby is months old now. The radio says rebuilding has begun in London. Mother decides to go back in search of R.

This is the most nerve-wracking environmental disaster film I’ve ever seen. The music was anxiety producing and made everything feel fraught and dangerous. Jodie Comer was brilliant at the emotional strain and power of mothering and protecting a child. The cinematography made everything feel waterlogged, windblown, and unlivable. Mahalia Belo directed.

I’m an old person. I have children and grandchildren and a great grandchild. My greatest fear for them is that we’re leaving behind a world that won’t support them, that climate change will destroy them all. That’s a long term fear. My immediate fear since the recent election is that they will suffer or die for being trans or for having a problem pregnancy. Both those potential scenarios are very real in my family. Add that to the my anxiety as climate change grows worse at ever increasing speed.

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched The End We Start From so soon after the election disaster, but it really hit me hard. It brings it down the the personal, individual level. If you’re still reeling from the election, you might want to wait a while to take it in.

It’s worth seeing. Jodie Comer is always worth seeing. But it’s strong stuff. It’s streaming on Prime Video.