20 Post-Apocalyptic Movies You Must See Before You Die

17. The Last Battle (1983)

Directed by French auteur Luc Besson when he was just 24-years-old, The Last Battle - or Le Dernier Combat, if you want the original language title - stars Pierre Jolivet as the survivor of an unexplained fallout. As "The Man," he spends the sum of the film trying to locate parts for an airplane so that he might escape to a better existence. The Last Battle is made most interesting, perhaps, because it features barely any dialogue across the length of its 80-minute runtime. It's suggested that whatever event caused the end of civilisation also resulted in the population being rendered mute, and only two lines are spoken in the whole movie. The low-budget should have been a hinderance here, but instead it helps to create the film's unique - and undeniably strange - atmosphere. The film also stars Jean Reno, a frequent Luc Besson collaborator, in a prominent role as a villain. Artistic, bleak and very original, it's kind of an underrated gem.