Sometime after the nuclear apocalypse: the earth is a heap of rubble, resources are scarce and the situation is desolate. The few survivors have either banded together in small communities or try to fight their way through as loners. They have forgotten how to speak. Conflicts are usually “resolved” by force. It is a fight for bare survival. The plot follows a man who has to flee from a brutal gang in his improvised flying machine after injuring their leader (Fritz Wepper). When he crashes in his flying machine, a doctor (Jean Bouise) unexpectedly offers him refuge. The man cannot feel safe here either, because in the end only the strongest can survive... The setting of Luc Besson's debut film (“The Fifth Element”) is reminiscent of George Miller's apocalyptic desert multi-part “Mad Max”. The only difference is that Pierre Jolivet plays the outlaw in lone wolf mode instead of Mel Gibson. Jean Reno, who plays a leading role here like Fritz Wepper, was to be cast by Luc Besson in many more of his successful films: As the apnea diver “In the Intoxication of the Deep” (“Le Grand Bleu”) or as a hardened contract killer in the dark thriller “Nikita”. A character that is seen as preparation for Jean Reno's later leading role in “Léon - The Professional”, also directed by Luc Besson. “A dark, surreally encrypted end-time film about existential behavior under extreme conditions, aesthetically extremely appealing.” (Dictionary of International Film) "The outstanding effect of the film is also due to the work of the technical and artistic team. With very few resources, a fantastic geography was created, a devastated planet that is much more real than the one in so many million-dollar American films. The idea of shooting in black and white to evoke the iconography of the war film, in which the cities destroyed by bombers played the leading role, is a bull's eye and a good solution to suggest the universal nature of the catastrophe." (Octavi Marti, in: El País)