The Man From Earth (2007)

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The best film I have ever watched. Thanks to our esteemed friend Chathura....

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The Man from Earth is a 2007 science fiction film written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Richard Schenkman. The film stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, the protagonist of the story. The screenplay for this movie was conceived by Jerome Bixby in the early 1960s and was completed on his death bed in April 1998, making it his final piece of work. The movie gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through Internet peer-to-peer networks and its producer publicly thanked users of these networks for this.

The plot focuses on John Oldman, a departing teacher who claims to be a Cro-Magnon (or Magdalenian caveman) who has somehow survived for over 14,000 years. The only setting is in and around Oldman's house during his farewell party, with the plot advancing through intellectual arguments between Oldman and his fellow faculty.

Plot
The movie begins with Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) packing his belongings onto his truck, preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an unexpected farewell party: Harry (John Billingsley), a biologist; Edith (Ellen Crawford), a fellow professor and devout Christian; Dan (Tony Todd), an anthropologist; and Sandy (Annika Peterson), a historian who is in love with John.

As John's colleagues continue to pressure him for the reason for his departure, John slowly reveals that he is a prehistoric "caveman" who has survived for more than 14,000 years. His colleagues refuse to believe in his story. John continues to state that he was once a Sumerian for 2000 years, then a Babylonian under Hammurabi, and finally a disciple of Gautama Buddha.

The discussion takes a turn into the biological and physical condition of John and the topic of death. John mentions that he is not a follower of a particular religion, and he doesn't believe in an omnipotent God. John then reveals that he was Jesus, which leaves his audience aghast. His colleagues begin to talk about the possibility of John being mentally ill or high on drugs.

After his shocking revelation, emotions in the room run high. His colleagues sternly demand that John end his "high tale" and give closure to the story; they threaten John with the possibility of locking him up for observation. John apologizes to everyone and, as he doesn't want to upset any of his friends further, he tells them that it was all a made-up 'story'.

After almost all of John's friends leave, Dr. Gruber overhears John relating to Sandy some of the other pseudonyms he has used over the years. One used over 60 years ago was the name of Gruber's father, a chemistry professor from Harvard who had abandoned his family. Gruber, shocked and over-excited, suffers a heart attack. The movie ends with John changing his mind, and deciding to spend a life with Sandy.