On the Beach
- TV Movie
- 2000
- 3h 15m
After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 7 nominations
- Chief Wawrzeniak
- (as David Paterson)
- Director
- Writers
- Nevil Shute
- John Paxton(1959 screenplay)
- David Williamson
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRachel Ward and Bryan Brown are husband and wife in real life. This marks their fourth on-screen collaboration.
- GoofsWhen the sub departs on its mission north, it is depicted remaining surfaced until radiation levels start rising. In real life, they would submerge just as soon as they were clear of the Australian Coast '--- a surfaced nuclear sub is barely seaworthy and can't go nearly as fast as it can submerged (and the story did emphasize time was of the essence). Also, submerging and surfacing are not nearly as dramatic as this movie depicts. Back in the early to middle 20th century, submarines like the German U-Boats were shaped like surface ships, and worked more efficiently on the surface, but that changed around the time the book was written --- since then, submarines move most efficiently underwater.
- Quotes
Cmdr. Dwight Towers: I carried warheads on my boat. That is correct. I was damn proud of it too. I served my country the best way I know how. And the only question I ask myself these days and I'm asking it every single millisecond now whatever the hell's left of what I've got, if where was I, where were you? Where were any of us? 'Cause I don't know what the hell two insane nations were doing facing each other down all those years. All that had to be done was that the brains, you know, the rational minds, the so-called best, you know all they had to do was just come, just come, come to the tables, negotiate, break a little bread. Do you know we had a combined arsenal of sixty-five thousand nuclear warheads. I have failed to find the logic in that. No logic.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 58th Annual Golden Globe Awards 2001 (2001)
The plot is simple: War has broke out (in this case between the US and China, but it could be Iraq or North-Korea too...) and the US strikes with nuclear weapons. Australia gets spared initially, but its inhabitants face certain death as clouds of radio active fall-out nears. Within two months, no one human will be alive. Unless... There is a chance that some people close to the north pole survived. An American nuclear submarine that survived the war is boarded by an Aussie liaison officer and a cynical scientist, that used to date the sister-in-law of the officer, to search for possible survivors.
Not much action, but for those who like to think while watching a movie, this film will stick to you. There are story lines that resemble soap opera's. That might be true on the surface, but it is completely different when you keep in mind that they all are going to die. You feel the difficulties in the way the characters choose to die.
The movie is played well, directed well and has great photography. The director uses several filming techniques that are rarely used so that the viewer gets time to think about the situation and feel the dilemma of the character.
Unless you cannot bear to be confronted with your own mortality, this is a must-see.
- marko-f
- Feb 23, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- На пляжі
- Filming locations
- Sorrento, Victoria, Australia(Beach house and beach)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)