Review: The Philosophers

Digital: The Philosophers (AKA: After the Dark) (2013)

On the eve of their graduation, 20 philosophy students are put through a final thought experiment by their teacher Mr Zimit (James D’Arcy) which takes them mentally through multiple alternate universes where a variety of devastating events mean that only 10 of the 20 can take shelter in a secure underground bunker.

The question is of course: How do you decide which 10 will survive?

As each event is played through, more information is drip fed to the students about the characters they are portraying, with each new piece of personal history changing the way they are perceived across the entire class, while also altering how important they may (or may not) be to the survival of the 10 chosen to be in the bunker.

This very interesting premise had me hooked from the very beginning, and the debates (played out as though the events were actually happening in real life) were tense and stimulated a lot of thoughts while watching…just who would I chose to survive!?

All was good until the final act where everything just got a bit too pretentious and I began to lose interest in the fate of all of the characters, ending with a whimper instead of the mind blowing BANG! that I was hoping for.

Guaranteed to create some interesting debate while watching with friends, The Philosophers is an intriguing evenings viewing that may or may not leave you feeling underwhelmed by the time the end credits roll.

The Philosophers is released 24th May 2021.

Review by Dave from a streaming link kindly supplied by (Yet) Another Distribution Company via Aim Publicity.