Search - No Men Beyond This Point on DVD

SV S.
Reviewed on 2/16/2020...

This is an interesting and well-made mockumentary about men going extinct and how the world would change as a result. It was written by a white, upper middle class, straight man, and it shows. A lot of important points are not covered, or are covered inadequately, due to the writer/director's privileged blind spots.

Lesbians and gay men are basically presumed not to exist, and the powerful relationships women commonly have with each other appear to be something this particular director is unaware of the existence of. People of colour are barely featured--this is a very white cast, and white, middle class society (and its remarkable emotional coldness and lack of community spirit) is represented as the universal "norm".

Despite these flaws, the movie does get into some intriguing territory and is fairly thought-provoking, as well as having some funny moments. The ending is written from an eye-rollingly privileged perspective, though: a white, male, moneyed, heterosexual privileged perspective. It's pretty unrealistic in the context.

And the biggest problem with this film is that the director is unwilling to approach the real reason why women might choose to let men go extinct: male violence. Yes, the film posits that women would abolish militaries and create world peace, which is likely, but the film completely skims over the individual, personal reasons that would prompt women to take these actions. Men are constantly raping and murdering women and children, and this is not even touched on in the film. What else explains the underlying rage and conviction of the women in the film who want to wipe men out?

Not a total waste of time, but this would have been better if it had been written by a feminist (aka a woman). 3.5 stars.