He was the first man on earth, he was the last of his kind.
Deep in the past... Lost to all memory... Lies a mystery that has haunted man for a million years.
A 1988 Adventure DocuDrama filmed in the style of a Nature Documentary, Starring Peter Elliot (Gorillas in the Mist, Congo) as the Man-Ape and narrated by Michael Gambon.
The film tells the story of the Man-apes (Australopithecus robustus) that co-existed with our direct ancestors and how they were displaced and ultimately pushed to extinction.
Set in Africa one million years ago the story follows the Last Man-Ape as he encounters and interacts with various animals after the rest of his tribe has been slaughtered by primitive humans. He travels across the Savannah, the Desert and an Oasis before finally reaching the shores of a beach as he evades the humans that killed his clan.
Not to be confused with the 1980 Picha film or the 2019 Laika film.
Tropes
- The Aloner: The Man-Ape becomes this after discovering that his entire family has been murdered by humans. He travels across the African savannah and beyond in search of a companion but never finds one.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Truth in Television. Of course, the proto-humans (like the ones who kill the Man-Ape’s family) will give rise to a lineage that will eventually include Earth’s dominant species, and the Man-Ape is doomed to extinction.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The man-ape’s appearance as an ape-like humanoid that walks upright is very reminiscent of Yetis and Sasquatch.
- Clash of Evolutionary Levels: Poor Man-Ape and his family end up on the losing end.
- Downer Ending: The Man-Ape is left as the last of his kind, mournfully watching the sunset as he sits on the beach, his species destined to disappear for good when he dies.
- Dumb Is Good: The Man-Ape is presented as a gentle but not particularly intelligent creature, contrasted with clearly brighter, but also more vicious proto-humans.
- Frazetta Man: The Man-Apes have this kind of look, but as much as the trope applies, it is very much played for tragedy, from the point of view of the creatures themselves.
- Green Aesop: The movie’s environmental message is about the tragedy of extinction, the closing text summarizes by saying:The man-apes (Australopithecus robustus) are known only from their fossil remains which shows that they once shared the planet with our own ancestors. They vanished from the fossil record about one million years ago - probably the first of many species pushed into oblivion by man.
- Higher Understanding Through Drugs: The Man-Ape eats a hallucinogenic plant which causes him to realise the axe he has been carrying with him is a weapon (this could be a reference to the "stoned ape" theory
, a hypothesis that consumption of hallucinogens helped early humans in developing the ability to conceptualize and abstract thinking). - Improbable Use of a Weapon: The Man-Ape tries a few times to figure out how to use the stone axe, before the hallucinogen-induced dream. One of the attempts involves grabbing it by the blade and using the handle to crack an egg.
- Last of His Kind: The Man-Ape after his entire tribe is killed by human ancestors (likely Homo erectus). Not only is he the last of his tribe, but he's also probably the last of his whole species.
- Narrative-Driven Nature Documentary: While Missing Link’s story mostly follows a basic narrative centred on the titular missing link, nature footage is interwoven with the story of The Man-Ape as he observes and interacts with the other animals he lives alongside.
- Prehistoric Life - Mammals: Almost all the African animals are already evolved into familiar forms, the only exception is one creature that seems out of place… the extinct Hominid.
- Spared, but Not Forgiven: When the Man-Ape realises that the axe he has carried is a weapon he begins attacking human footprints in the sand, suggesting he wants revenge for his tribe's death before he relents, throwing the axe into the sea.
- Speculative Documentary: The film is a speculative look at how Australopithecus went extinct and how the last individual may have lived out its life.
- The Speechless: The Man-ape doesn’t speak and the only noises he makes are very basic vocalizations.
- Unseen Evil: The primitive humans who are responsible killing the man-ape’s family, we most we see of them in the movie is a footprint in the sand and their silhouettes standing in the distance.
