Young Ones
gives us a glimpse of a post-apocalyptic dystopian world where there is an immense scarcity of water and people are barely hanging on to hope by a flimsy string. Water has now become the most endangered resource in the world and everything has become dry, barren and deserted. One of the very few people who still have faith in his land is the farmer, Ernest Holm.
He takes care of his farm with his two children, Mary and Jerome, while his wife has been admitted in the hospital permanently. When Ernest is accused of stealing supplies from the water men whom he works for, he finds out that the main culprit behind the whole crime is none other than Flem Lever, his daughter’s boyfriend who has his ulterior motives about the land that Ernest owns. After winning a rough confrontation between the two, Flem emerges victorious and reunites with Mary, but Jerome soon finds out the truth about Flem and decides to take matters into his own hands.
This movie has been divided into three parts and named after the person who is the main character in it – first was named “Ernest Holm”, and then was “Flem Lever” and in the end was “Jerome Holm”. This film even though has tried to bring out a rural Western setting in a nameless American land, it has somehow missed the mark trying to capture the realness of it. The performances by
Michael Shannon
and
Nicholas Hoult
may have been very engaging and impressive but the movies at times seem to be only about the male violence more than anything else.
The vast and wide scenes of the cruel sand under the scorching sun may have been made very similar to many other movies based on the Western theme. The presence of a centralized government and the usual corrupt practices taking place under everyone’s nose is not a very clear picture of a world that has already been through an apocalypse. Even though the visual effects of the whole movie is very impressive and can actually make you concerned about what would happen if this is what is really waiting for us in the future, the story-telling of the movie leaves a lot to be desired.
To this drought-stricken dystopian world that has somehow lost its way to our hearts, I give this movie, 2 out of 5 popcorn tubs.