I’ve had plenty good to say about David Axe and his films The Theta Girl, its sequel Azrael and Shed. Now he’s back with Lection, a film that’s something of a change of pace. It’s a political thriller, a post-apocalyptic parody of the political system. And it lacks the violence and nudity of his previous films in an effort to find a wider audience. Is it a change for the better, or should he stick to what he’s best at?
After the apocalypse humanity has reverted to tribalism. One such tribe is beset with food shortages. And as the food supply dwindles, dissatisfaction grows as to how it’s distributed. Protests lead to violence and soon Dot (Sanethia Dresch) rises up to challenge the Mayor (Mike Amason).
But in the world of the future politics are a much different beast. Politicians may say they would kill to be elected. In the world of Lection, that’s not an exaggeration. Vote or die.
Shot for a little over $20,000 Lection looks much better than its budget might have you expect. Its future looks sufficiently grubby to be believable. But not so much so that it seems unbelievable. The look resembles some of the homeless settlements we see now.
We’re not told how far in the future this is, or what happened. People wear clothes that don’t seem that old or ragged so I’m assuming Lection takes place not to long after the end of civilization. Which brings me to the one real issue I have with the film. Despite the physical appearances, apparently it’s been long enough that language and speaking are becoming a thing of the past.
This leads to misspelled and ungrammatically incorrect signs that look like they came from a certain current politician’s rallies. That’s a nice bit of commentary. But the lack of dialogue made the plot a bit hard to follow at a couple of points.
Thankfully we haven’t quite reached the point where our leaders are chosen by a fight to the death as in Lection. But we are at the point where you can make a lot of money selling conspiracy theories about candidates and their alleged body counts. And in that light maybe Lection is best taken as a cautionary fable.
Lection is starting its festival run. You can check for screenings on the film’s Facebook page.