After The Dark-The Apocalypse As a Philosophy Lesson

After seeing this film and God's Not Dead, and having not taken lots of philosophy courses in my college career, I have to ask...are lots of philosophy professor arrogant, aggressive douches putting up a front of being way too impressed with their own intellect, and that turning out to be a coverup for deep personal wounds or insecurity?  Because with both films, we get that breed.  If so, does the feel tend to generate such or do such individuals decide they have found a home in philosophy and pursue it to its ultimate professional and metaphysical ends?  In the case of GIND, Kevin Sorbo's Prof. Radisson, he is found to blame God for personal loss, breaks down and seemingly experiences enlightenment before expiring from a car accident.  As for Professor Eric Zimit (James D'Arcy), here is a man who is convinced of his own intellectual prowess, judges his students on his estimates of theirs, and the worth and survival of a civilization on ruthless logic and calculation, and is confounded by the idea that very smart students might come to completely different conclusions.  He is also found, in the end, staring into his own personal abyss, his intellect giving him no solace for his own personal spiritual deficit.

Oh, what am I going on about?  This is After The Dark (The Philosophers), which shows the above Prof Zimit leading his philosophy class through their final exam.  In this case, it is an exercise in which they roleplay candidates for an attempt at survival in during a nuclear attack.  They are to evaluate each other and decide who would be best to be put in a bunker with limited resources to ride out the attack and see them on the other side to try to rebuild civilization.  With each iteration of the exercise, not only does he increase the difficulty and pressure as well as variables in play for them to think about, personal considerations are hovering in the background, affecting the decisions some of the students make as the exercise unfolds.

Beautifully bringing to life the apocalypse and survival in their collective mindscape, After The Dark lushly illustrates these scenarios unfolding.  And, it asks the  provocative question...is raw intellect enough?  Or is the measure of a man, of a civilization, more to do with soul?  Are we just a collection of data points?  Or are we purpose manifest?  Is there more to existence than existence?  Is life defined by mere biological continuance?

When does survival become too expensive a proposition?

Good indie science fiction flick.  Check it out.