From Omeleto.
A woman discovers survivors.
BUNKER: THE LAST FLEET is used with permission from Rowan Pullen and Stephen Potter. Learn more at https://bunkerthelastfleet.com.
The year is 2057, and for the past six years, invaders have occupied the world. Since their arrival, human civilization essentially disintegrated: countries were destroyed, social systems fell apart, and land was taken over by aliens that harvest humans for their organs. What remains of the human race has hidden itself, avoiding all contact except for those in immediate circles.
Tjarra is a Nunga warrior, living with her friend and partner Reo, an Australian-Vietnamese paraplegic hacker plagued by ill health. They’ve carved out an existence for themselves, surviving in the outer regions within the confines of a hidden army bunker and working together to forage and explore what remains of the world. They have survived undetected since the alien occupation, but one day, Tjarra makes contact with others like her, raising questions on whether or not they are fellow survivors — or something else entirely.
Bold and breathtaking in scope for a short, this stunningly realized sci-fi short — directed by Rowan Pullen and Stephen Potter, from a script written by Pullen, Potter and Natasha Wanganeen — is a deeply imaginative dystopian action-thriller, complete with muscular camerawork, desolate and epic Australian landscapes and fascinating world-building. But it’s also a thoughtful, poetic and ambitious meditation on Australian identity and history, using an audaciously futuristic story to pose knotty questions about the country’s indigenous people, land and occupation.
The film opens with a scene set in Tjarra’s dreamspace, where she learns from a spirit elder that she is a "keeper." The storytelling and world-building take inspiration from a syncretic creative approach like Afrofuturism, where ancient and traditional culture is remixed with art, science and technology to fascinating effect. Instead of African cultures, though, the touchstone here is Australian Aboriginal in origin, and the film’s visuals, costuming and themes focus on Tjarra’s identity as the seemingly last of her people. Her alienation and difficulty in eking out a survival in a merciless future find new resonance in the sci-fi genre, which approaches these themes with a fresh, dynamic lens.
Tjarra and Reo work closely together, Reo feeding her info in the bunker as Tjarra makes her way through an unforgiving, hostile environment. As Tjarra, actor Natasha Wanganeen has the bona fides for a unique, powerful and compelling action heroine, with innate resilience and mettle that is put to the test in a hostile, dangerous environment. But when she encounters more survivors on the outside, her performance gains emotional resonance, finding belonging, ancestry and a deeper tie to the land she still calls home, despite its travails.
A striking and original take on the post-apocalyptic narrative, BUNKER: THE LAST FLEET is spectacular in the true sense of the word, with accomplished craftsmanship on every level, an epic sweep in its world-building and an incorporation of Australia’s diverse cultures. Meant as an opening to a larger story, it packs its ending with a series of intriguing developments, complete with alien encounters and a very special discovery that gives Tjarra a palpable goal to protect. She has stepped into her true role as a keeper of her culture and ancestry, made all the more important in a world where little survives alien occupation but hope stubbornly remains.
