History Film / TheManFromEarth

The film proved surprisingly popular on torrent sites, helping it receive more attention than an indie film of its budget normally would, which caused director Richard Schenkman no small amount of glee. As a result of its popularity, it received a sequel called ''Film/TheManFromEarthHolocene'', which was released directly to torrent sites for legal download in 2018.

* CompleteImmortality: The other start to believe that this is what John is claiming to be, especially after he tells them that he doesn't scar, but he then clarifies that he has never claimed to be immortal, just long-lived and acknowledges that he very well could die since he obviously doesn't know the source of his condition.

''The Man from Earth'' is a 2007 dialogue-driven {{Science Fiction}} {{Drama}} film about a group of college professors and a grad student sitting together in a cabin during the going-away party of their colleague. They discuss the plausibility of their departing friend's story: that he has witnessed thousands of years of human progress first-hand since the Cro-Magnon Era.

* HappyEndingOverride: The film’s ending is left ambiguous as to whether John begins a relationship with Sandy or not. [[spoiler:The sequel ''The Man From Earth: Holocene'' confirms that he didn’t as he has moved on and is in a relationship with Carolyn.]]

The film proved surprisingly popular on torrent sites, causing it to receive more attention than an indie film of its budget normally would. As a result of its popularity, it received a sequel called ''Film/TheManFromEarthHolocene'', which was released directly to torrent sites for legal download in 2018.

The film proved surprisingly popular on torrent sites, causing it to receive more attention than an indie film of its budget normally would. As a result of its popularity, it received a sequel called ''The Man from Earth: Holocene'', which was released directly to torrent sites for legal download in 2018.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: John never physically aged beyond around 35.

* HollywoodLaw: Will repeatedly threatens to have John involuntarily committed for a psychiatric evaluation if he doesn't admit he's making the whole story up. He'd have a lot of trouble convincing a judge to sign an order for involuntary commitment based on being told a story he doesn't like. John hasn't threatened anyone, committed any acts of violence, displayed any symptoms of mental illness, he isn't Will's patient, and Will doesn't have any valid reason for having John committed. All John would have to do is look at the judge and say it was just a story, and it probably wouldn't even get to that point. Basically, Will is an asshole.
** Will Gruber makes these threats, but that doesn't mean he believed they were possible. He's flustered with John and trying to figure out what John is up to. For all Gruber knows, John may know nothing of the real law behind such matters.

* IHaveManyNames: John naturally varied his name throughout history. Still, it's always been something similar to John. A lot of the surnames were {{punny name}}s.
* ImmortalGenius: Subverted: John Oldman has lived for over twelve thousand years and spent a good deal of that time learning as much about the world as he could, even earning ten doctorates. However, he realistically can't keep up with the latest developments on every single possible field, especially since he has to move on every few years so that nobody notices that [[TheAgeless he doesn't age]], so most of his degrees are out of date by now. Plus, his mind isn't any different from that of an ordinary human, so [[TheFogOfAges he can't remember literally everything he's experienced]], only the highs and lows - to the point that he's had to fill in the blanks with modern archaeological knowledge.

* InconspicuousImmortal: John began life as a simple hunter-gatherer in the upper Paleolithic and has preferred to remain under the radar ever since, taking relatively unspectacular jobs, avoiding fame, and vanishing into the undergrowth whenever [[TheAgeless his inability to age]] becomes impossible to ignore. His latest career is that of a simple college professor, and even as apparently the youngest man on the faculty, he prefers to let his more flamboyant colleagues take the spotlight. As such, the drama kicks off when, just before leaving his current life, he decides to confess ''everything'' to them. [[spoiler: He also admits that the one time he became famous was when he tried to bring Buddhism to the Middle East and accidentally became Jesus in the process, which didn't end well.]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:John unwittingly mentions his name from 60 years ago in front of Gruber, who recognizes John as his father. He then confirms Gruber's mother's name and dog's name.]]

** While John was present at some major historical moments, he realistically couldn't be present at all of them as he was just one man in one place at one time. He didn't magically teleport to every major point in history or meet every famous historical figure.
* TeacherStudentRomance: Art comes to the meeting with a student named Linda, and while they're not explicitly said to be a couple, they do give a bit of a vibe of one.
* ThereIsAnother: John thinks that he might have met another person who was immortal although he couldn’t know for sure at the time. He connected with him for a while in the 16th Century, He believes he might have seen him in a train station in Brussels two hundred years later but lost him in a crowd.
* TimeAbyss: John claims to be a 14,000-year-old caveman. [[spoiler:His story is proven true.]]