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THE BLACK

POLYEIDES MEDIENKONTOR MÜNCHEN BERLIN - as PROD

Action/Adventure - Pre-Production 2010

‘The Black’ is an action film, a political thriller, and an environmental mayday combined in one. It explores the results of a world overusing its resources and neglecting true unification. ‘The Black’ is a story of one man’s trek through a post-apocalyptic Europe to find a way to get back to the US

- Year of production
- 2010
- Genres
- Action/Adventure
- Countries
- GERMANY
- Languages
- GERMAN, ENGLISH
- Writer(s)
- Marcus GAUTESEN
- ISAN
- 0000-0002-BF30-0000-Y-0000-0000-9
- EIDR
- 10.5240/A486-3C90-BC4F-36D8-231B-5
- Producer(s)
- Matthias ZUBER (polyeides medienkontor münchen berlin), Mike FRIEDRICH (polyeides medienkontor münchen berlin)
- Synopsis
- The story opens in New York where Phillip lives with his Czech wife, Pavlina. Once the financial crisis, brought on by the sky-high oil prices, begins, Phillip loses his job, and to try and pay-down their debt, he travels to Bohemia to sell his wife’s property. He’s too late though, because the crisis deepens and soon not only can he not sell the house, but he can’t even get back to New York. All planes have stopped flying, and as the situation disintegrates further, each government in Europe chooses a different strategy to deal with it. This quickly leads to the collapse of the European Union, and with the threat of organized gangs from the East marauding West, the individual countries of Europe seize control of their oil reserves for military use only and arm themselves. The crisis is global, but Europe is hardest hit due to its numerous cities and reliance on energy, and its departure from local farming and resources.
  Phillips only hope to return home is to get to the sea where he can catch a boat back to America. But getting anywhere during a complete transportation shut-down is near to impossible. While trying to return to Prague he witnesses a car-jacking and comes to the aid of a woman, Jana, and her young daughter. Together they walk the many kilometers to the woman’s father’s horse farm, where they are finally safe from the madness around them.
  Phillip gets through to his parents on his intermittently useable mobile phone, and learns that his wife has died trying to leave New York. Anger and despair are held back only by the urgency of the scene around him. Reports of Russian gangs moving East and sacking towns, and an attempt to steal the horses of Jana’s father, lead to them fleeing Czech into Germany, where things are safer and the government is still in some control of the situation. Together with Jana and her daughter, they join a group of German refugees and trek across the country. The autobahn is now just empty pavement, and the group move slowly down the long, wide road.
  Phillip has the horses, and they are able to use them in trade work for food. With no fuel available, people need fields plowed and goods moved. The group in this way is able to get sustenance and sometimes shelter. At night they post guards – desperate thieves are everywhere - and sleep close together.
  The towns they pass are nearly deserted – most people have left for the country where there is food and land.
  When they reach the Rhine they camp in an abandoned Rest Area. That night the group is attacked. While fleeing they are split from the group, and now travel alone, unsure where to go, and without the safety of numbers.
  Phillip hears that there is a possibility of getting on a ship from Bremerhaven, but only a couple days later he’s told that all the ships have left. That night, while helping some urban farmers who are attempting to cultivate a city park, Phillip meet a teacher who has a ten meter sailboat hidden nearby. They agree a deal, that with the horses they will pull the boat to a canal that leads to Bremerhaven, and then all sail away together.
  Three days of hard pulling gets them to the canal, and a couple days later they are in Bremerhaven. Phillip leaves to trade the horses for supplies, but when he returns he sees that the boat is being attacked - Jana is stabbed, and the teacher dead in the water.
  With the gun given him by Jana’s father, Phillip fights off the attackers, and is able to push the boat off from the dock. Jana’s daughter takes the helm while he attends to Jana. She’s hurt, and it’s a fine line between life and death for the coming weeks.
  They sail without lights, weary of pirates. Once far out to sea they meet rough water and fierce storms. Jana suffers below as they thrash about in the terrible weather.
  Torn sails, no water, and Jana nearly lost, they are picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. Phillip lies and says Jana is his wife to keep them from sending her back to Europe, but that lie only lasts a short time, because once the facts are checked, the Coast Guard informs him that his wife is still alive.
  Phillip is torn between happiness and distress over his feelings for Jana. He convinces the Coast Guard to allow her and her daughter into the country, and Jana finally puts his mind at rest about their future, saying that what they had was part of the journey they made, and that they will always have that, but that his future should be with his wife.
  Phillip has a happy reunion with Pavlina, but it is a short-lived reunion, because Phillip is called to serve in a United Nations force intent on restoring order in Europe. He crosses the sea again, this time in uniform, and on a navy carrier…