The Man From Earth is about a retiring professor who chooses to share a story with his learned friends that would have them believe that he was born a caveman and has been alive all these years. Try as they might, they have a hard time debunking his story and consider the possibility that he may be telling the truth. This movie could easily work as a play or even as an episode of an ongoing television series. The entire thing takes place in or right outside one house and all in one act. Like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone, this is a brainy Science Fiction movie devoid of special effects. The drama unfolds briskly enough but the true entertainment takes place in the mind of the movie watcher as experts in various fields raise in-depth queries that are all dealt with quite well from the story teller. Can this be true, can it really happen? It was also interesting to watch how these learned men and women deal with the possibility that much of what they have come to accept comes into question.
This is not a movie for those who are impatient or crave action. This is an intellectual movie or at least high concept drama. I found it quite interesting and entertaining but not everybody will. There are no major actors in this film to speak of though many of them will be familiar from the myriad of TV shows they’ve worked on. This is a noteworthy film for the right audience but certainly not for children or fidgety friends. They’d be bored to tears. For that reason I only give it a 3 and a half out of 4 marks.