Log in to streaming, and what are you met with? It’s typically trending or recommended titles that not so subtly nudge you in one direction. The algorithm is far from your friend, as even streaming giants like Netflix will push you towards that latest Adam Sandler movie if you or someone in your household at one point in time even started up a couple of minutes of any comedy on their platform.
The point is, to get the best viewing experience, you have to go beyond what is right in front of you, especially on free streaming sites like Tubi or Plex, whose massive catalog is chock-full of titles that you often have to search for. An example of this is the 2023 movie The Last Spark of Hope, a film tucked away on streaming services, which is an inventive yet minimalist tale of survival in a dystopian world. For fans of sci-fi with a hint of survival horror, The Last Spark of Hope should be essential viewing.
‘The Last Spark of Hope’ Offers a Gripping Story of Sci-Fi Survival
The world has come to an end, with a great ecological tragedy leaving a woman, Ewa (Magdalena Wieczorek), as the last person on Earth. She lives on top of a mountain in a facility, the only location free from radiation, with a robot programmed to take care of her, Arthur. The two exist in a state of routine, but Ewa is given a home with Arthur, where she can live the rest of her days. Yet, after a routine mission outside the compound, she returns to find out that Arthur’s safety password has changed, and he will no longer let her pass. Slowly dying of thirst, Ewa tries various ways to rationalize with Arthur to let her in.
Directed and written by Piotr Biedroń, The Last Spark of Hope was created under the “microbudget fund” from the Polish Film Institute. This fund had Biedroń focus the bulk of his sci-fi spectacle on a single location, utilizing a lot of found materials to create its dystopian landscape and the oddly adorable yet deadly Arthur. As a side note, for those who scoff at the idea of a foreign film, a dubbed version is also available, which is perfectly serviceable. (For me, it defaulted to dub, and I did not realize this until several minutes into the film.)
Being a small-budget foreign film may also be why The Last Spark of Hope quietly snuck onto streaming. On IMDb, the movie has a modest 5.6/10 rating from over 700 users, while on Letterboxd, it is rated 3/5 with more than 600 users logging the film. The ratings here are a bit low for what it is, as The Last Spark of Hope definitely punches above its weight.
‘The Last Spark of Hope’ Is an Emotional and Frightening Journey
What makes The Last Spark of Hope an underrated sci-fi minimalist gem is its injection of a rather emotional story of survival into its dystopian setting. Here, Ewa, the last woman on Earth, finds herself at odds with a robot who has been her only companion. So while she is slowly dying, she still speaks to it like a friend, giving the severity of the whole situation an underlying tragedy and depth.
Much of the movie’s tension is conveyed through conversations, as Ewa attempts to present logical fallacies to Arthur in his programming to persuade him to allow her back into the base. This includes what would otherwise appear as innocent games, where Ewa plays different roles, such as that of a refugee demanding asylum, which become engrossing fights for self-preservation as her body becomes weaker and weaker.
The Last Spark of Hope lands somewhere between an emotional “stranded in a single-location” horror thriller, such as the phenomenal Fall (2022), and the underrated isolation-driven space movie The Midnight Sky (2020) starring George Clooney. It is both immersive and emotionally intense. The minimalist sci-fi survival movie is truly a hidden gem, one that should not be overlooked; it certainly deserves more attention than the meager feedback it has garnered on popular aggregate sites. Stream The Last Spark of Hope for free on Plex, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Fandango at Home.
- Release Date
-
November 24, 2023
- Runtime
-
88 minutes
- Director
-
Piotr Biedroń
- Writers
-
Piotr Biedroń
- Producers
-
Beata Pisula
-
-
Jacek Beler
Robot Artur (voice)
