What would it really be like?

[Chip Hazard]

This is the best place I could think of to put this one...

Some may feel it should be in the movie section, but I really do think it belongs here because it really does relate to the topic of this subforum.  Also not everyone may visit the movie and entertainment forum and could miss out on this.

There are a couple movies I really think every 'prepper' should watch.  These movies are down right brutal and the first one is almost difficult to watch at times because it is so realistic and brutal- The Road.

The Road is everything The Book of Eli isn't, mainly The Road is at least plausible.  The style in which the two movies were filmed is even totally opposite.  The Road is dark and grainy with a constantly hostile feel to it while The Book of Eli looks like the big Hollywood production it actually is.  Other than being a post apocalyptic world the similarities end there.  The Road hits so hard because it plays things as close to reality as it can, maybe a little too close at times.  The reason I recommend it is because it really shows how a life of scavenging would be like and the dangers everywhere.  The ending really hits hard too.

The other movie I highly recommend is totally different than The Road because it does not take place outside and deal with the difficulties of survival and finding food while 'on the road', The Divide deals with the decay of human nature while being locked up in a bunker (of sorts).  This one has some over the top elements in my opinion like the ending and 'cause', but that's Hollywood.  It does however dive into some very thought provoking topics.

In The Divide, a SHTF scenario happens and a group of people take shelter in the basement of a city building.  The problem is the basement is already occupied by Mickey (Michael Biehn) who set it up as his own personal doomsday shelter.  At first Mickey comes across as way too cold and hard as he 'sets the rules' and locks everyone in.  He also rations the food and is pretty much a jerk.  As time goes on the group starts to fall apart and eventually everyone is at odds with each other.  When they find that Mickey has food and supplies he didn't tell them about, the 'guests' quickly become the aggressors and maybe Mickey wasn't so much of a jerk after all...

The Divide could have been harder hitting but it had a PG13 feel to it.  They get into some pretty mature topics though and it really does examine the mental deterioration of a group of people locked up together.  The way some of the group completely abandons any normal human behavior and morals is interesting to watch because I can see people acting like that in real life.  As much as The Road is a great visual and thought proviking message about survival on the outside, The Divide is a must see for anyone that has a 'bunker' and may have a group of people other than immediate family.

I know these are both movies, and I can separate movies from reality.  These though really are worth watching.  Like I said, The Divide had some story elements I could have done with out, mainly the end and what caused them to end up in the basement in the first place.  It's fine to watch it for the entertainment value because after all that's why it was made.  But pay attention to the situation they are in and how each of the people act, react, and devolve into the worse there is of our human behavior.

I really think people can learn a lot from these two movies.

[KYMarine19]

If you liked the Road the movie you should read the book (which the movie is based off of). It is a lot darker a does a much better job of portraying a desperate society. There was a lot the director couldn't put into the movie simply because of time restraints and on screen sensitive issues I believe. Really good book.

[Ride Naked]

Thank you for the recommendation ChipHazard, I definitely be looking for them. I've been wanting to watch something along these lines recently that is more 'ahem' realistic than the walking dead, as good as the show is.

Where did you find them? Locally we have Walmart and target, other than that it's pretty much amazon, I'd love to go pick one up today though seeing as its my day off

[norrin_radd]

"The Road" is a must read. But I recommend watching good comedy afterwards, you'll feel like crap until you do.

[Gibson_GM]

Sorry, this isn't a movie, but a book...you might want to try to find "The Whisperers" by Orlando Figes.  It's about life in the Soviet Union, esp. during the purge times of 1929-38, and what people had to do to cope.  Really describes the ways people survived as 'enemies of the state'.   

If you want to know what life post "SHTF", this one will tell you.  Unless we're hit by a meteor or other civilization-ending event, the reality is more likely to be a political system that is structured the same way.  The likelihood of the US reverting to something like "The Postman" is about nil.  Altho, the above movies ARE great, and everyone enjoys the genre! 

On the topic: "The Day" was pretty good, a group of folks on the road that stop into a farmhouse to rest, 10 yrs. post-apocalypse.  They become 'the hunted', and have very limited ammo, etc.... 

[Chip Hazard]

"The Road" is a must read. But I recommend watching good comedy afterwards, you'll feel like crap until you do.

Yeah the same with the movie.  If the book hits harder than the movie.... whew...

[Ride Naked]

I'm watching "the road" now, its darn good.

[salif08]

"The Road" is a must read. But I recommend watching good comedy afterwards, you'll feel like crap until you do.

Yeah the same with the movie.  If the book hits harder than the movie.... whew...

It does.  You'll notice that the lack of grammar and sentence structure will frustrate you.  The author does this intentionally to reflect the breakdown of all structure in the world in the story. Must read for sure, especially for a father or son...

[wolfgang2000]

You know that are a lot of different scenarios out there on what MIGHT happen.  It's possible that any or all of them could happen.  I personally don't see a "Postman", or "The Road" scenarios having a high probability of happening.  Society just doesn't disappear.  It never has.  Nuclear attack?  Did society disappear in the 2 cities nuked in WWII?    No it didn't.  The reach of society may have been limited during some events, but it always came back and those that acted badly were punished.

Other than Bibicial based end of the world stuff, the probability of local/area natural event have the highest chance of effecting us.  Some will effect local, or some , like Katrina, will effect entire regions.

We are now seeing (again IMO) the greatest threat is an over bearing government, not the lack of one.  What we are seeing is the beginning of a communist take over.  History has shown that for every communist/fascist take over there will a purge.  They are engineering shortages.  "If you control the food, you control the people."

After that the threat is growing (IMO) for an EMP/solar flare, and a possable pandemic, either natural or man made. 

 

[Gibson_GM]

You know that are a lot of different scenarios out there on what MIGHT happen.  It's possible that any or all of them could happen.  I personally don't see a "Postman", or "The Road" scenarios having a high probability of happening.  Society just doesn't disappear.  It never has.  Nuclear attack?  Did society disappear in the 2 cities nuked in WWII?    No it didn't.  The reach of society may have been limited during some events, but it always came back and those that acted badly were punished.

Other than Bibicial based end of the world stuff, the probability of local/area natural event have the highest chance of effecting us.  Some will effect local, or some , like Katrina, will effect entire regions.

We are now seeing (again IMO) the greatest threat is an over bearing government, not the lack of one.  What we are seeing is the beginning of a communist take over.  History has shown that for every communist/fascist take over there will a purge.  They are engineering shortages.  "If you control the food, you control the people."

After that the threat is growing (IMO) for an EMP/solar flare, and a possable pandemic, either natural or man made.

I agree, 100%, Wolfgang.  The stories of those chased, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, executed of WWII and the Warsaw Pact countries is a good starting point.  No tyrannical gov't can take over without creating an 'underclass' to blame...the Nazis used the Jews, the Soviets used those with ANY wealth at all (even peasants), the Khmer Rouge used ANYONE with ANY education.  We now have a system of "the ends justifies the means", and millions willing to do anything to 'get there'.   "There" is always a vague "forward" slogan rather than reality, tho.

Right now, I bet if a serious move were made to 'crack down' on gun owners, tea party/dissident groups and the like (conservatives), the Left would be MORE than happy to crack some heads.  It happens fast...there wouldn't be much of a buildup to watch to gauge how far we've gone.  Look at the speed with which Egypt toppled Mubarak...BAM, it happens after a tipping point.

If the economy continues to stagnate/tumble (as I believe it will), you can be sure there will be groups to 'take the blame' for the REAL orchestrators.   This is, also just my opinion, the FAR most likely thing we'll face in the next 1, 5, or 10 years.   Poverty, increasing gov't regulation WAY past anything legal, and more and more police state behavior.   There will be more crime; as a result, there will be more blaming of the 'gun culture', aka conservatives.    And off it goes.

There is NO way those in power would allow a condition of lawlessness to occur....more the opposite, I think...too MUCH law (regulation) will be the norm.  Heck, I mean - it already IS, isn't it? 

[Chip Hazard]

I just want to point out the meaning of this thread was to try and show the 'what if' worse case scenarios that some seem to actually be hoping for.  It definitely wouldn't be like Mad Max or any other Hollywood fantasy, the absolute worse case would be very similar to those two movies.

As far as what I think will really happen to us, I think we are headed down the same path that every empire has.  We will fall and another nation will take over as the 'greatest nation in the world' and we will decay to a point somewhere between 3rd world and 2class nations.  And we will still have a society and government, just nothing like what we grew up in.

Now is something like in The Road possible?  Anything is possible.  A plague or meteor strike that isn't quite an ELE (Extinction Level Event) but is enough to destroy most of the world's population... those things are very possible.  We can't say they will happen (or should I say when they will happen) or that they won't ever happen.  But I think for the most part we will see the USA fall and become a socialistic Dictatorship type of regime, and we're not too far from that right now.