【電影簡介】

《這個男人來自地球》（The Man from Earth）是一部2007年出品的獨立電影。由Richard Schenkman執導，Jerome Bixby編劇。本片在IMDB上獲得了8.1的高分（截至2009年11月7日）。但收看后觀眾評價褒貶不一，有人大失所望——認為其全片場景不多，大量對白；其他人大呼過癮——認為其跳出近幾年科幻電影“激光加金屬”的圈子，更加關注精神上，而非視覺上的科幻。
一個普通男人的秘密在他的辭職事件中開始顯示出端倪。歷史教授約翰奧德曼說自己身上有一個讓大家都匪夷所思的秘密，而為了保守這個秘密他不能在一個地方超過十年。他的朋友們試圖去發掘他的故事中的秘密，這一舉動讓約翰非常生氣，而他的朋友卻發現約翰的故事是無法被否定也無法查證的，究竟約翰身上有著怎樣的秘密？一幕幕碎片聯系起來，帶給我們一個意料之外的故事高潮。

【音頻文本】

"Man from Earth" is an outstanding film. The title of the film, and talk of nanoseconds, Martian colonies, and perfect regeneration, might lead many to expect a thrilling science fiction movie, but those people will soon find themselves disappointed.

The story is about a few college professors sitting in a half empty room shooting the breeze, and the only part of the film that could be considered even remotely exciting involves a gun that is never fired.

To his friends, the protagonist John Oldman is just a retiring scholar, but at an impromptu farewell party he reveals that he is an immortal who has been walking the earth for 14000 years.

His friends and fellow faculty members are taken aback at the revelation, and pepper John with questions related to their own fields of expertise. John is able to answer all of the questions correctly, though he shatters the image of an all-knowing immortal by underscoring the difficulty in keeping up-to-date with the progress of all subjects.

So here we are in a world overwhelmed by various kinds of rapidly expanding information, choosing your information intake carefully is necessary for anyone who wishes to stay sane.

The latter half of the movie witnesses a sudden shift in topic and becomes dominated by a discussion on religion. Again, John shocks his friends by claiming to be Jesus Christ himself.

This striking idea, mingled with little known facts and ideas about early Christianity, make up the bulk of the latter half, until the discussion comes to a sudden stop and everyone leaves after John apologies for having played such a bad joke on them.

The attempt to find common ground between two religions is a nice one, but since the latter half is predominantly a discussion, if not argument, on religious matters, I get an impression that either the screenwriter or the director has run out of whimsical ideas, which have been the highlight of the first part.

Throughout the film there isn't much action, but merely an on-going conversation. Yet the director is able to capture the viewers’ attention, at least in the first half. First of all, every curious mind, thirsty for knowledge, must have considered immorality as the route to master all the knowledge and wisdom of mankind. So the topic stirs up enough of the viewers' imagination that could keep them on their seats. Plus, the viewers are supplied with an abundance of food-for-thought in the form of interesting facts, ideas and even questions in the fields such as history, biology and anthropology, as John deals with his friends' challenge.

Despite the movie's somewhat misfit and monotonous second half and the abrupt ending, the director has managed to capture the viewers' attention with a simple setting, fluent running conversation and thought provoking questions. On a scale from one to ten, this film deserves an eight.

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