On the last shore. Neville Schuette

It was necessary to get it out of the mountain of booksellers' waste paper. A book that literally turned the mind, page by page, chapter by chapter, and then left in complete confusion - and how to live with it now? And let the novel was written in 1957, he, alas, does not lose its relevance today ...

... I was struck, first of all, the absence of chaos, vanity and far-fetched heroism, as well as the main characters and their surroundings. There is no hurry, the author as if observing the characters, giving them to tell their own story, or rather "requiem". Everything is as realistic as possible, and that makes it really scary. Especially when you start reading the book, not counting on such a development of events, and then you can not tear yourself away, although you know that there is not and will not be "and they lived happily ever after". I was immediately reminded of Linda's song "North Wind":

Look and take steps to where we are
And where we haven't been.
Kiss and take a hand,
# And see what we've done #

; Some of us got up and some of us can't get up ;
Some can't get up when they feel like it
Some of us slept and some of us couldn't
When there's trouble and loneliness

The north wind. The north wind
The world is on its knees,
Kneeling after a blow.
This world is melting under the snow.
Melting under the snow
Weeps with faint rains.

Look and take steps to where we are
And where we have not been.
Kiss and take a hand,
And see what we've done.

North wind! North wind!
The world is on its knees
Kneeling on its knees after a blow.
This world is melting under the snow
Melting under the snow
Weeping with faint rains...

Do you know what hopelessness is? Have you ever experienced the ultimate despair? Some would probably say yes. But there's despair and despair that affects you personally. And if it involves all of humanity. That is, when you find yourself in such a situation, you know somewhere in your subconsciousness that life will continue without you. That people will live, give birth to children, love, quarrel, make mistakes.....
But when you realize that's not going to happen. There won't be not only people, but life on the planet. It's a very different feeling. Houses are still standing, chain swings on empty playgrounds, green grass on lawns, flowers blooming. And only by the ringing silence reigning around you can realize that something is wrong ... This is how the captain of a submarine sees OUR WORLD, having risen to the periscope depth. You can't go higher, the radiation background is too high. The only solution is to sail far away from the Eurasian Continent, where the toxic cloud has not yet reached - in Australia.

“On the Shore” by Neville Sch;th is, in my opinion, the most lyrical and humane work about the post-nuclear world. More precisely, it's not even about the post-nuclear world per se, but about a life that tries to resist the impending end to the last. Suddenly people have an epiphany - from the captain of a US military submarine, to the last government top brass on the Australian continent, looking helplessly at their hands, at each other in the mute question: “What have we done?” and the merciless realization that no matter what they do, the process has started and there is no button that could stop it. Bunkers and money won't save them. Just like mere mortals, they will inject themselves with sleeping pills in large doses to drift off to sleep and not be tormented.

I am amazed at how the author skillfully managed to convey the horror at the thought of the inexorably impending end. Frankly speaking, I got goosebumps even just from melancholy radio reports: the radio station in Rio has gone silent, a communicator in Cape Town is dying of radiation sickness, the first infected people have appeared in Brisbane. Against the background of this nightmare, small events of human life occur. The tragedy of the situation is that no one fully believes that all hopes for deliverance are in vain. People live up to their last minutes in hope for the future - the thought of imminent death is completely unreal, and therefore the brain cannot accept it in any form, until the last hours, when the hopelessness of the situation becomes obvious.
The lyricism of the novel - in the description of the modest everyday life of families of the 60's, in the touching and old-fashioned subtleties of the narrative, in the nuances of communication between the characters. Humanity is that Shyut avoided descriptions of any dirt, because the last days of civilization - a good time to show the lowliness of human characters. There is none of that; on the contrary, the characters in the novel retain their best human qualities to their very end.

Russell Mulcahy's 2000 screen adaptation is every bit as good as the original. I would like to quote here a review by a female viewer: “Brilliantly described realities after the nuclear exchange between the U.S. and China. I have never seen anything harder in my life. We won't see blatant destruction and fiery disasters here. We will see a captain all in white, an optimistic and intelligent woman who really likes strawberries and champagne, a happy young family of well-meaning Americans. Here we will hear brilliant dialog with meaning, and very few people who just wanted to live.

Why not many people?

Because everyone's already dead.

Quietly died of radiation.

In the US, China, Africa, Russia, even Alaska.

There is no more life on the planet, only garbage, empty houses and toys no one needs. Post apocalypse in all its unsightly form, among which only madmen drive a red Ferrari. And no one needs diamonds, no Van Gogh painting, no couture clothes, nothing! There is only a slice of life left in a part of Australia, but even there the wind drives a radioactive cloud. Even though they know they're doomed, people continue to love and believe. And there is such a gorgeous nature around!

If you decide to watch this movie, take a sedative or go for a walk or a jog to dull the aftertaste. These lines can be read and smirk, but remember them after watching. I watched this movie a long time ago, and today I just went for some screenshots to dilute my dry writing with them. But even involuntarily catching some of the shots, I again experienced that nasty feeling of hopelessness, which pulls the heart and somewhere in the solar plexus. God forbid...”

Both the book and the movie are quite long (one movie goes as long as 3 hours), not to say that would be dynamic. But tense. There are a lot of psychological and social moments. The reaction of people is shown perfectly. The game of actors in the movie is excellent, the script is also well written. The development of events, the change of understanding and perception of what is happening. The movie is heavy. After watching it remains a very depressed state. So I would not recommend people in a difficult situation, emotionally susceptible and not stable to watch it. For the rest, it is a must, to “wake up”, to “remember” and to “not forget”. The viewer is constantly given food for thought. They give hope. Together with the main characters, he is looking for a way out, struggling. And after the final credits it's as if an invisible veil falls from the eyes....  So if you have long been looking for the so-called “magic pendel” to finally start living, loving, appreciating the fact that we can still do it, this is it.

Quotes from the movie:

“- American or Canadian?
- It would be more prudent to be called Canadian. Americans are as popular with you as cockroaches.
- You pressed the button.
- The Chinese started it first!
- Oh, well, that makes me feel a lot better.
- Yes, I had warheads on my boat. And I was proud and happy to serve my country. And the only question I can ask myself now is, “Where was I? Where were you? Where were all of us?” I have no idea what the two crazy states didn't share! It was necessary to gather all the best minds of mankind and make them think, to look for a way out of the situation.... Our countries had sixty-five thousand nuclear warheads. I tried to find an explanation for it, but there was no logic to it.”
Dwight Towers

“- It took three billion years of evolution to create a being whose brain could unravel the structure of the universe. And how did we apply that knowledge? - By blowing ourselves up!”
Julian Osborne

“Not a bad ending for a human comedy - a little blue pill. I've never died yet, Dwight! I don't think I'd be very good at it...”
Moira Davidson

“I wish I could say 'see you on the air,' but the radio broadcast will be discontinued in a few minutes. Courage and peace of mind to you all.”
Radio Australia broadcast